Terran Federation: Contact
by L4 of the WEST
Summary: What if we put Starship troopers universe in the Skyllian Verge. Writer/Lore Master: L4 of the west, Beta/Writer: Timed Blood Raven, I respond to review through PM so make sure to check your PM if you Review.
1. Chapter 1 Timeline Book one (8-31-16)

**Author note**

**This story was born from several factors, first was a general love of crossover, of having one group meet another group and seeing how things would change. The second was by annoyance that Starship trooper the granddaddy of Warhammer 40k, star craft and arguable halo has just been forgotten. There about 50 stories here counting crossover. Third was boredom brought on from needing a break from my current story. Final factor was reviewer on my other story who stoked the fires of this story. *Shakes fist at said reviewer* Darn you Lord Asmodeus.**

**Stay tuned after the story for another note**

* * *

_**Terran Federation: Contact**_

* * *

**East Federation Territory, Shanxi system, TFS FF-400 **_**John D. Sloat**_ **April/7/2329 AD**

Commodore Erica Chavez sat at her desk in the captain's cabin and watched the stars. She had been there for the last hour trying to decide on giving the go ahead to the "Mass Transporter" project, or in words that most people would understand, allow the scientist to mess with the big gun they had found at the edge of the system, after one of the defense ships in her squadron had decided to use a small moon for target practice. Sighing Erica considered what to do, she had sent a message to the nearest sky marshal but he was 4 weeks back and forth travel across the Guilder wave relays.

That had been three weeks ago so by rights she should wait at least one more week, but one of the scientists on her ship had done something stupid last week. He activated the device and when everything didn't blow up he sent a scout drone through.

Currently the aforementioned scientist was locked up in the brig, but she wasn't sure what to charge him with. The Federation didn't have any rules against messing with alien tech since the Skinnies pretty much stole all their techs and the bugs… were biological war machines. So keeping him locked up for general stupidity was not going to work and the stupidity had paid off.

The info from the drone sent back by Guilder Wave had been coming in bits and pieces for awhile now and if it was to be believed it had traveled over 100 light years in minutes without turning into a pile of melted dust, or into its atoms that had once been its components. That was over a four week journey for the Cherenkov drive. This meant the idiot had possibly found the greatest discovery of the century, something that could turn both the tides of the Bug and Skinnie wars. If of course there were more of these "Mass Transporters" Just floating out there.

Sitting back in her seat Erica sighed, brushed her short dark hair back and said "Sloat".

"Yes captain?" A green line appeared on a nearby computer screen indicating the she had the ship's A.I.'s attention.

"Send a message down to the brig to free the idiot scientist, and have him transferred to the _Ragnar Lodbrok_ and inform her captain that she is to prepare to travel through the mass transporter. This means a skeleton crew and at least four weeks of supplies in case they cannot find a mass transporter for a quick way home."

"Yes captain". The A.I. said in a mechanical tone.

"Also send a message down to Brigadier General Williams and tell him we're going to be testing the device."

"Yes captain". The A.I. repeated in a mechanical tone.

"One more thing". Erica stated getting up and walking over to her bed and unbuttoning her grey coat.

"Yes captain". The A.I. agreed.

"I'm catching some sleep, unless we're under attack, keep the crew away". Erica said taking her jacket off and sitting down on her bed.

"Yes captain". The A.I. affirmed.

She pulled up her right pant leg past her knee and deactivated her prosthetic lower leg pulling it off. She then reached over to her left shoulder and did the same. She couldn't get a good night sleep with those things on her. They just felt like an anchor holding her in one place when she slept.

Laying down on her bed she closed her eyes.

* * *

**TFS FF-400 **_**John D. Sloat**_, **Shanxi system, April/7/2329AD**

Andrew Selvo yawned as he was led by several power suited troopers on to a waiting Slingshot drop boat. He had been roused from his sleep by his guard because his efforts to find out what the device at the edge of the system had paid off. With him now being the foremost "expert", he was going to be sent over to the ship being sent through it because… because if it went wrong he would pay the consequences as well as the crew of the ship he was on.

Yeah that part kind of sucked but was the standard operation procedure for the Federation. If you want to fuck with something new for manned craft, you better have all your notes on a computer somewhere. Because the first time it was tested, you're going to be on board.

Andrew yawned again as the boat was lifted off the ground by a crane and the docking bay sealed and depressurized. The boat was then maneuvered out though the bay doors and dropped into space. Looking out the window at the TFS FF-400 _John D. Sloat,_ wishing that the commodore had been more willing to go explore and take her ship. The _John D. Sloat_ was a frigate, laid out in the classical lines of a corvette class which was the most common class out there.

There were at least a 1000 of them under fleet command, and in service, ranging from frigates and transports, to fuel tenders and hospital ships. There were at least another 500 in mothball or under the control of private business' as well, because the corvette, and by extension the escort corvette classes were just the most reliable platforms to build a ship from. And the frigate version had some pretty big guns. At 550 meters, the grey almost cyclical ship sat in space orbiting the moon of Shanxi, her four engines glowing blue on their pylons and her radio tower standing tall overlooking her hull, with the eight high density laser cannons that sat upon it.

Sighing and wishing again for the comfort and protection of the frigate he looked out the window at the ship he was going to be traveling on now. There were in total nine ships in the Shanxi defense force. The frigate, being the command ship, was escorted by three destroyers. Also the standard grey, they were only 250 meters long and were more sleek and flat compared to the corvette class, with only a three engine pylon. But they carried four high density laser cannons on two turrets and eight high density laser turrets on the superstructure, making them almost as lethal as a frigate.

He would glad to be on one of them, but he could tell the slingshot was going to go right past them. The slingshot headed further back in line and the next ship was a corvette fuel tender and he was glad to pass her. The next two ships were the 250 meter escort corvettes and looked like a smaller variety of the corvette, one having the three engine pylon configuration the other having two pylon version, but both sported four high density lasers cannons. There was no real difference in performance supposedly, but he knew captains that swore the two engine configuration was more agile while the three had more power. Either way he would never get to find out if it was true as they passed them by heading to the last ship in the column…

"FUCK this."

The last ship in the column was a _Cortez _class scout cruiser a 150 meter long metal box with a big ass engine strapped to the back. Yes she was the fastest ship in the fleet. But her armament was four outdated high density laser turrets. That was enough to knock an asteroid off course but taking on a bug transport was way beyond the ship power.

Resigning himself to his fate, Andrew waited for the boat to land in the docking bay of the ship and let his guards lead him to the engine room. Obviously the captain just wanted to get underway, rather hear how the mass transporter worked.

* * *

**TFS CS-298 **_**Ragnar Lodbrok**_**, Shanxi system, April/8/2329 AD**

Captain Mike Bowman groaned as he read over his orders. It seemed to be a simple exploration mission, with additional help of a Space Gun to get there. Well great to hear, but he had been on missions into the Petelomaic Hegemony, every single first contact with even the most backwards and lost planets there had taught him that this was going to go fucking south fast. There were no friendly aliens, yes there were Skinnies in the Mobile Infantry but most remained for revenge against the bugs who had destroyed the leadership of the hegemony a thousand years ago, and cast their empire into the chaotic dark age they now enjoyed.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, unless I can make them my slave", was the Skinnie way. Hell, the first "first contact" the Federation had ever had with another species ended with the TFS _Reynold's _crew blowing their own ship up to prevent the aliens from stealing it. They still didn't know who that race was or what the Federation did to piss them off because they never met them again. Leading theory was it was a race already near extinction due to the arachnid empire hunting them down but there was no proof. To him, that meant they were still out there waiting for the right moment.

Letting out a tired grumble, he stood and saw the ship carrying the so called scientist had just landed. "Lieutenant Maxwell take us out of formation and head for the anomaly please."

"Aye aye sir." In response to his order, the helmsman's hands moved to take control of the ship. He felt the engines come to life and the ship began the hopefully short, but not deadly, journey.

* * *

**Mobile Infantry Barracks,** **Shanxi**, **April/8/2329AD**

Sergeant Major Erich Hanna Wald lay in his cot, flipping a coin. "Heads." He muttered and it came up heads, "tails" and it came up tails. He had been at this for at least half an hour and every time he had called it right. He had come from a backwater colony that had been founded by a mining business, and had brought in German colonists to have a local work force, so he had never gone through the psychic testing most Earth brats did.

But inside, he knew, he was a psychic, the most rare and difficult to prove variant of all, a luck man. The official term was "probability control" but that just meant you were a lucky son of a bitch that could come back from hell if you were "Lucky". He had thought about telling his commander, but had decided against it since he would just end up behind a desk in Military Intelligence, unable to help his friends when they needed it. Though the "heads" he muttered had come up tails, he could be putting them at risk, if his luck failed him at the wrong moment.

* * *

**General Office, Shanxi, April/8/2329AD**

Brigadier General Alexander Williams picked up the latest report from the defense fleet, and muttered one or two unpleasant things about the commodore in orbit. He really was not a fan of messing with the big gun they had found. For many reasons, the most serious of them being it was a big ass gun and you only built a big ass gun if you needed to shoot something that was just as big.

He was afraid that they were attacking some ancient alien race with their experiments and they could easily figure out where the attack was coming from if they survive it. Another major one was that if they had a first contact as bad as the others, he didn't think his troopers would hold the planet long enough for help to get here. This little backwater was not near any major enemy staging ground so they got scraps of what could be spared, and most of the scraps were light infantry units and whatever kind of power suit units they managed to get out there were in short supply or at the end of their tour of duty to cash out their papers and settle down on this little backwater. He commanded a brigade, which to get to the point should be made up of sixty-four companies. In reality he only had about forty, none of which were at full strength. Thirty-one of them were light armor, eight more power suit, and the last company was a Marauders unit, his only heavy armor.

On paper he had about a division's worth of men with the necessary support units and infrastructure, which would total out to 16,715 soldiers. Meanwhile in reality he had no dedicated support units, and only around 4,379 troopers if he really scrounged, and somehow made them full companies. The only thing he did have on the paper was the infrastructure, and everyone knew that they wouldn't last in a dedicated siege thanks to orbital bombardment.

He would kill for some more troop types here. Preferably the power armor unit that had been deployed against the bugs, or at best a pathfinder team. Hell he would love some exo-suit units before he would mess with that damn gun. But that wasn't going to happen now. Sighing he reached for piece of paper and penned several orders. The first of which was to hire local construction companies to shore up and improve the defenses around the city and space port. The second was to prepare the civilian population for evacuation at a moment's notice and to stop and hold all trade ships until the crisis passed. Third was a note to be sent to all able bodied citizens to re-enlist for a period of three months. Thankfully he was most certainly not in short supply or retired soldiers and they each had some form of firearm and armor.

Finally a note to Jim Morris, the "owner" of the southern continent and representative of the Morita arms company on this planet, asking for him to pull his little private army and workers back to the safety of the mainland until this was over. He really didn't care that much about Jim's safety but he worked for the biggest weapon manufacture in the Federation, so Williams just assumed his private army would have some good weapons, a whole stockpile of firearms, and plenty of ammunition to supply all the new soldiers he was calling up, that could help if things got dire.

* * *

**TFS CS-298 **_**Ragnar Lodbrok**_**, Shanxi system, April/8/2329AD**

Captain Mike Bowman watched the front window as the Big Gun came into view, the hairs on back of his neck prickling at its sight. It looked like a giant fucking tuning fork, and he assumed the big glowing clitoris of energy in the center was its power source or something. He reached over and activated a screen to the engine room, "Alright so who's the man with the dumb plan?"

A middle age man with dark hair came into view, "That would be me sir, Andrew Selvo."

Sizing up the civilian for what he was, Mike continued, "Alright, so you think this thing is like a giant slingshot and will throw us a great distance?"

"Well no, I think it opens a corridor of space a ship can travel through at great speed." Andrew said. Blissfully simple.

"Alright, so do we just fly towards it or does it require extremely complicated math that will make even my resident navigator stroke?" Bowman asked.

"Oh god no! The Device needs to know the mass of the object it sends through... I wouldn't want to find out what happens to a ship that goes through without that step! It's thankfully simple, I'd imagine even a child could do it. If he could understand what mass is. The device seems to have been made with user friendliness in mind."

"Neither would I, how long until it's ready?" Mike asked, ready to get this mission over with.

A beeping sound could be heard from the screens speakers and the scientist looked off to the side. "It appears to have been ready the moment I activated it. Calculations are done, we can be on our way whenever you ready captain."

"Alright." Bowman sighed as he shut off the screen and looked at the helmsmen. "Lieutenant Maxwell, take us in."

* * *

_**Vanker**_**, Unnamed system, 2657GS(April/8/2329AD)**

Canus Albiraka of the Turian Hierarchy, commander of the Cruiser _Vanker,_ groaned and stretched his back as they passed through yet another system on this endless patrol. It was a boring, thankless job he did for the Citadel, searching this empty region for trouble, but he was Turian, and it was a job that needed to be done so he didn't complain. Spirits knew he wished something would happen, nothing of real worry of course but maybe some fool pirates trying to branch out of the traverse or some trade ship that had an accident and needed help. Just something to break the monotony for a little while.

Sighing Canus asked his helmsmen. "Bolarius, what is the next point of interest on our patrol?"

Ulteia Bolarius looked up, "A system with the inactive relay, 314. It should only take a few moments captain."

Canus nodded, sighing as if heavily burdened, "Set course." Then sat back in his seat, bringing up his omni tool he had months ago finished even the most boring of paperwork he could, and now he and most of his bridge crew were busying themselves by a variety of means. He himself was trying to beat Sweet Destroyer Level 1337.

* * *

**TFS CS-298 **_**Ragnar Lodbrok**_**, Unknown system, April/8/2329AD**

Bowman stopped holding on to the sides of his chair with a death grip and released the breath he had held in for his life, "Fuck… That was interesting to say the least." He looked around at his bridge crew most of which seemed to be in same state of thanking their patron deity for a safe trip. "Alright boys and girls, someone tell me if my ship is still in once piece, where we are, how far that is from Federation space, and if there is another Space gun to shoot us back home."

"Captain." Lieutenant Gergo Kamilla said from her position to the left of him at sensors station. "We're about four weeks from where we started."

"Good we packed the right amount of supplies then. How about my ship?" He looked to the right.

"Ahh, le'see 'eer, everything's checking out. No injuries have been reported. Dare I say that Allah has not decided to smite us today. Maybe in a few minutes sir?." Lieutenant Ad Roffel said from his position.

"Well then ladies, gentlemen, we just made history. Faster than light travel at speeds that have never been attempted before and safely survived. This is going to change everything. Now the other question is …"

"Sir, I'm detecting a Space gun in system. It seems to be activated and in good working order. I also detect the probe sent through previously. Or what's left of it, I detect about two thirds of it smass left, seems the Device sheared off the rest of it when it didn't put in a high enough number. I wonder what would happen if we put in over our mass?" Kamilla said from her seat. "Should be a matter of simply retransmitting our mass to it and then going through. May I suggest we hurry before something investigates?"

"Today just gets better and better! Hey if we get out in one piece, drinks on me on Shanxi! Take us towards it and have the good scientist ready! With any luck we will be home for breakfast." Bowman smiled as he sat back and watched the Space Gun get bigger in the window. Everything was going great. And was everyone cheered out in joy at free drinks.

"Huh, I wonder what alien built this thing." Thomas Maxwell said from the helm, only to have Gergo's shoe hit him in the back of the head a moment later.

Mike overlooked it, even as Kamilla sneered, "Idiot, don't say things like that. That's just asking fate to screw us! If shit goes down I'll kill you harder than Rasputin."

"Sorry." Maxwell said from his seat and then an sounded.

"Lieutenant Kamilla, what is going on?" Mike nearly shouted in surprise, knowing he would hate the answer.

"Captain we have detected four ships entering the system via unknown means. One frigate sized ship at 500 meters and three destroyer sized ships at 236-37 meters." Kamilla said before giving Maxwell a death glare. "Ya vypotroshit' vam vam bestolkovyy cherv'!" She whispered in russian.

"Great, I doubt we'd be lucky enough to run into Skinnie's all the way out here, so we have a first contact situation… Get the space gun revved up and get us out of here! Ignore all hails and don't respond in any way, better to not piss them off." Captain Bowman said in a flurry of orders, hoping this was the correct actions.

* * *

_**Vanker**_**, Relay 314 system, 2657GS(April/8/2329AD)**

Commander Canus Albiraka yawned as they came out of FTL, as he relaxed comfortably in his chair, waiting for the scan to reveal nothing like normal. He had decided to nap in his chair for their time in FTL. Best to get his sleep while he could. The most dangerous enemy to an officer when doing monotonous work was a lack of sleep.

"What the… check it again… What do you mean you already did? Uh, sir, we have detected a small corvette length ship near the mass relay. The relay is also activated." The sensor operator Lieutenant Luius Mutimus reported.

"Oh good, helm- wait WHAT!?" Canus said sitting up. Starting to immediately wake up from his pleasant stupor

"I'm also picking up a transmission being sent to the relay, they're trying to go through it." Luius said

"Send out signal to tell them to halt immediately!" Canus barked to his communications officer, then turned to Luius. "Where is the ship from? What Race is stupid enough to try and break the law?"

Luius looked over his screen "Sir… the ship doesn't appear to be any known designs."

Canus got worried at that as this was either a private company trying to break the law… or this was a first contact. If this was the former then he was in the clear but if this was first contact….. Thinking it over, it dawned, the activated relay, the unknown design, the so far refusal to speak. It was most certainly a first contact, but his military mind decided to worry about that after he stopped them. He couldn't let the law be broken unchallenged. "Send two of the frigates in close to buzz that ship and block its escape. Once we have stopped them, we'll worry about the implications.

For all he knew these were undocumented explorers of their species, or pirates or worse, but they could also be registered explorers, or even a high level government ship carrying their most holy leader of their species, whose death would spark a genocidal war that would bring an end to all Citadel life!

Opening a relay on its own was not a crime if it was a first contact, however he needed to detain the ship and establish communication if he was to ever have a hope of explaining that they must stop all such activations until the diplomatic team arrived. He could get his ass grilled out if this went sideways and if it was determined to be his fault he may even face severe consequences and those who promoted him as well.

All of this and more went through his head as he speed through all the possibilities and problems that each and every single action he could take from now would affect him and the men under his command. He watched as his crew got to work sending orders and the frigates moved to block the ship's escape. Fidgeting nervously, he looked to his comms officer, "Are we receiving any messages of compliance? Or for that matter any transmissions at all?" He asked.

"No Sir. Not even a peep beyond the continual sending of their ship's mass. They look desperate to get out of here." The comms Turian said just before the frigates made a micro FTL jump and proceeded to drift close to front off the ship, "buzzing it" in Turian parlance, close in astronomical terms meant tens of thousands of kilometers. "Sir we're getting a variety of radiological signals from the ship!" As the first turian frigate pulled ahead of its target, both took the signals as a possibly hostile action and they proceeded to turn it themselves so that only the most narrow point of the shape faced the unknown, to lessen the chance of any broadside fire from the other hitting it. Prepared to fire back.

Canus was about to order the frigates to pull off when Luius spoke in alarm, "I'm picking up a power spike in what appears to be one of its Starboard turrets!"

"Direct to connect to Frigatespull-!" He didn't get to finish as the second frigate moved to buzz the small ship, closer by a few thousand kilometers, a crimson beams shot out from the turret along the ship hull. The bigger ship to its flank were damaged heavily by a single beam. He didn't know if surprise, a slip of the talons, or what caused it, but the Frigate _Ignoble_, its spinal cannon melted, and the pilot's compartment compromised, returned fire, what should have easily been reflected by a corvette of its size, the hypervelocity slugs of the frigate slammed straight into the unknown corvette, and he saw great blossoms of fire and armor plates ripped from its Starboard superstructure, including the rear engine nacelle of the corvette, starting to send the spaceship spiraling out of control in space towards the mass relay, "Frigate _Ignoble! _Frigate _Causation! _HOLD FIRE!" Canus finally screamed into his microphone

In retaliation, the corvette fired back with all its starboard armament, even with its uncontrolled spin, the accuracy of the turrets was to be commended, unknown to Canus it was the work of a nearly decade long battle hardened gunner. More of the Frigate was damaged, and was soon rendered inoperable, the beams not even activating the kinetic barriers. Leaving it a floating, burning wreck, escape pods ejecting from the _Ignoble_. "…Directed energy weapons…" Canus uttered in awe and fear.

* * *

**TFS CS-298 **_**Ragnar Lodbrok**_**, Unknown system, April/8/2329AD**

Captain Mike Bowman looked on in horror as the bigger ship was sliced up. "I thought you said there was only ONE coming toward us?!" He screamed, looking to Kamilla. He had sent a video message to the aliens to move away and to fire a laser over the first ship's aft as a warning, but the second had flown in front of the beam at the wrong time.

Kamilla looking on in equal terror, eyes wide as saucers, "They must of been flying right behind the other ship, in close formation. Don't even ask me how the fuck they managed to jump millions of kilometers in a few seconds!"

"Well fuck we're at war now, there's no way they would take a 'sorry we fucked up' after that. I want a damage report! Ready all weapons, we'll nuke our way out of here if we have to. And Helm stop making us spin like a fucking top. I'm getting sick through the inertial dampeners." Mike ordered, then his ship jerked underneath him, sending him sprawling to the ground.

"Sir we have hull breaches in every deck on the starboard side, and power failures in the engines. No belay that sir, we HAVE no engines." Ad said from his seat. "I've initiated the micro thrusters on our port side to arrest our spin, but that's all we can do. We are dead in the water for all intents and purposes. On the bright side we have no fatalities. Can't say the same for the other guy. We're detecting what has to be lifeboats."

"Do we have enough power to take them with us?" Mike asked.

Ad looked over his screen, "No Sir, all starboard turrets have lost all juice in their last salvo, and the port guns are... Well on the port side, the aliens would only need to stay on our starboard side and there's nothing we can do."

"Well hell… always knew I'd get fucked by exploration, give me ship wide." Mike reached over to the comms and spoke what everyone in the bridge feared. "We're dead in the water and our weaponry will not be sufficient with an unknown alien at the gates. I'm enacting the _Reynold_ protocol. Everyone is to move to the escape shuttles. Do your best to make your way towards the mass driver! All pilots be forewarned, you are to input your mass of your ship to the device! Nuclear timer is 5 minutes! Good luck and godspeed you squids!"

* * *

_**Vanker**_**, Relay 314 system, 2657GS(April/8/2329AD)**

Canus Albiraka watched as the other frigate reacted, pulling away carefully in order to avoid impacting the lifepods jettisoning from the _Ignoble_. He watched as the alien ship was ejecting shuttle like craft and pods as well. Seeing the state of the unknown snapped the fear out of him; even though these aliens may have developed directed energy weapons, they seemed to have no defense against mass accelerators, or at least none that had protected them from the _Ignoble's_. Now knowing what must be done he snapped, "Tell the _Causation _to intercept those lifepods and to dock that corvette_._ We need to capture that ship and find out everything we can and rescue its crew."

"Sir several smaller vessels are launching from the ship and are headed for the relay." Luius reported. "They seem to also be docking with the spherical pods as they go."

"Set course for the relay, we'll intercept them. And please for the love of the ship's spirit, do not fire upon them, I want fighter teams to be deployed and to engage tractor beams." Canus ordered. His ship and the other frigates moving to do so. It took a few minutes to get to the relay but once they were there, there was nowhere for the escaping vessels to go. It had almost been trivially easy to outpace the smaller ships. Although as his helmsmen reported, they did have a certain spunk to their movements, moving gracefully and erratically to avoid any incoming fire as best as possible if it ever would come. Some of them headed back toward the damaged ship the others stopped in space and seemed to surrender to whatever fate his ship judged necessary.

"Sir, I'm picking up a lot of power that ship again. I'm also detecting one final escape sphere ejecting and moving top speed away from the ship." Luius reported.

Canus looked out the window, he knew what was to happen, and so did the _Causation,_ "Tell our ship to back o-" He was cut off by a bright flash of light that enveloped the alien ship and the frigate moving desperately away. Seeing sunspots in his vision for a moment, Canus looked away until the light faded, and then at his tactical interface saw the corvette gone with no debris, and the _Causation_ drifting in space, its heat sinks overloaded and life support barely functional.

"Sir, they appeared to have activated a self destruct device." Luius explained unnecessarily. "Emergency transponder from _Causation_, activating… Oh thank the spirits, only injuries."

"Spirits." Was all Canus could say.

* * *

**Arthur note**

I have a collaboration group for idea in this fiction however won't let links work inside stories so heres the link if oyu wish to type it out manually,

forum/Terran-Federation-Contact-a-Starship-Troopers-Mass-effect-crossover/157708/

Or, more simply, Go to **Forums search and type Terran Federation: Contact (a Starship Troopers Mass effect crossover)**

* * *

**Fednet News Update**

* * *

**Universe**

Right off the bat I have to address the universe in which these Starship Troopers (SST) elements come from. As you are no doubt aware there in the Book, the TV show and the film franchise including one videogame at least (Seriously you should go try it out, pulls off old style shooters well), and several board games and roleplaying games, but there is one more you may not be aware of the mongoose publishing SST universe (MPSSTU or MPU). The MPU used elements from the book, movie 1 and 2, the television show, and their own imagination to produce a miniature game, comics, and a Role-playing game that did very well in its first years. Then movie 3 came out and it died, I don't know if the events were related but the movie was not the best. Anyway in addition to the MPU I will be using elements from movie 4 as I feel that it has more in common with MPU then the film franchise.

Would you like to learn more? _Continue_

* * *

Beta reader Timed Raven's Author's notes:

Do NOT be intimidated by the extensive timeline below, it is NOT necessary for future reading, but will be useful for people who wish to know of the background story of the federation. Especially for people who have ONLY seen the movies. It is subdivided by subject, and not strictly in chronological order.

**TIMELINE**

**Russo-Anglo-American Alliance-Chinese Hegemony War**

**February 21, 2041** – The Russo-Anglo-American Alliance and the Chinese Hegemony go to war, touching off the Disorders. The combatants being the European Alliance (1970), Russian Union (formed 1946), and the North American Republic (formed 1959) on one side in the RAA Alliance. With the Chinese Hegemony(formed 1950) which had grown to control most of Southern Asia all the way to the Middle East. During the war no nuclear weapons, or weapons of mass destruction were used as both sides did not believe the war to have ever reached the stage where their use was considered necessary. But this war was not a pleasant affair, tens of millions died, more than any previous war, and lasted for over half a century .

**November 1, 2125 to April 17, 2126** – The Revolt of the Scientists. The Intellectual elite in multiple nations attempt to seize control of the government in a non violent coup.

**July 21, 2130** – The Treaty of New Delhi is signed. Its afterthought approach to the problem of prisoners of war enrages veterans worldwide. It has since been later amended multiple times.

Would you like to learn more? _Continue_

* * *

**Rise of the Terran Federation**

**August 14, 2132** – The newly-formed Aberdeen militia agitates for Emergency Measures.

**October 19, 2132** – The Aberdeen militia succeeds in overthrowing the gangs and criminals in Aberdeen, Scotland. Now celebrated as Federation Day.

**December 26, 2132** – Declaring the Aberdeen militia a dangerous and unlawful vigilante force, the government of the European Alliance begins military action against the militia. Debate still ensues about the lawfulness of their decree.

**April 19, 2133** – After several months under assault and riots by its own enraged population, the European Alliance ceases to exist as previously concealed splinters in the alliance form into rifts.

**May 4, 2133** – The Federation hastily forms from the ashes of the old European Alliance. It is marked as a day of immense panic and worry world wide from both the people of Europe and the other nations across the globe.

**August 30, 2134** – The RAA Alliance officially becomes part of the new Federation.

**February 11, 2145** – The Pu Yi Massacre, a crackdown against democratization riots in Beijing, finally spurs the long politically and ethnically splintered population of the Chinese Hegemony to unite to rise up against their government. It is noted many parts of the military revolt, primarily being a conscript army fighting its own people.

**June 7, 2146** – The government of the Chinese Hegemony is overthrown, bringing the last of the great powers beneath the umbrella of the Federation.

**April 7, 2147** – In order to communicate effectively with its population, the Federation launches FedNet, a worldwide computer and broadcast network to disseminate information to the people. Anyone may use it to upload information and spread their voice, for good and ill.

**January 1, 2150** – The Federation, with the introduction of sovereign franchise, renames itself the Terran Federation.

**January 5, 2150** – The Federal Council announces ambitious plans to provide for the housing, health, education, safety, and freedom of all its people. After more than half a century of war, some regions even longer, many nations had remained war torn without even basic utilities.

**March 11, 2169** – The Federal Council reconstitutes the space programs of the pre-Disorders Superpowers beneath the Federal Stellar Authority.

**October 7, 2178** – The FSA launches the Galileo.

**April 3, 2182** – Luna Base, the first Federation installation outside Earth, goes online. The world marvels as they see a bright light upon the moon.

**November 20, 2190** – Olympus Base, the first Federation colony on Mars, goes online.

**December 2, 2191** – FSA explorers discover primitive plant life on Europa.

**October 1, 2193 **– Federal scientist find an alien base hidden deep beneath the surface of Mars on the south polar region of Promethei Planum, but before they could begin delving it to it secrets the team becomes infected with a viral bio weapon. The act was committed by an extremist Scientology terrorist group that believed that the evidence there would harm their religion. Fear of the virus spreading spurs FSA into action and getting permission from the Federal counsel they are forced to nuke the facility several times, wiping out the virus and all technology in the underground base. Later scientists would ask if this was overkill, but the Federal Council released a statement to the effect that, "it values human life over a possible scientific advancement".

**January 1, 2196** – The Jovian resource stations of Io and Europa simultaneously go online.

**March 10, 2199** – A small Secessionists sect on Jupiter's moon of Io seize control of Io complex.

**April 21, 2199** – Despite attempts to reach a peaceful solution, the secessionists overload the station's reactor core, destroying the station and killing nearly one million innocent colonists after the majority of the colonists attempt to force their way into the complex. Conspiracy theories posit the Federation actually destroyed the facility on purpose.

**June 2, 2199** – In the wake of the Io incident, the Federal Council extends nationhood to all off world colonies in the new colonial charter.

**January 1, 2200** – A young civilian named Jon Forrest is proven to be a psychic, the first documented, verifiable instance of a human with psionic abilities.

**May 31, 2204** – The Special Services are established to monitor and govern the psychic resources of the Terran Federation.

**March 4, 2216** – Pavel Cherenkov, an FSA scientist working at the Kazakhstan Space Facility, creates a revolutionary new engine that will allow a spaceship to travel faster than light. It is named the Cherenkov Drive. This is the culmination of decades of controversial research.

Would you like to learn more? _Continue_

* * *

**The Colonization period**

**March 9, 2216** – With the Federation's psychic program increasing in strength, Special Services relationship with Military Intelligence is strengthened as these two agencies become largely integrated.

**May 7, 2229** – Utilizing the new Cherenkov drive, the FSA dispatches the _Magellan_, a survey ship, to the Alpha Centauri system.

**August 20, 2229** – The Magellan reaches the Alpha Centauri system.

**July 17, 2238** – The new colony on Hesperus, the TF's first stellar colony, receives its first colonists. This opens up an era of Colonization.

**May 14, 2240** – An alien vessel from an unknown race enters Alpha Centauri space and destroys the FSA Cruiser _Sun Tzu_ before crippling and boarding the Corvette _Reynolds_. The crew of the Reynolds destroys their ship, bringing the alien vessel down with them. This marks humanity's first contact with an intelligent alien species.

**December 20, 2240** – In the aftermath of the disaster at Hesperus, the Terran Federation rolls the Military Intelligence, the army, and the FSA into a single entity, thus creating the Strategically Integrated Coalition of Nations (SICON).

**November 29, 2248** – The Mobile infantry is formed and at the forefront of this new military is the Cap Troopers, the most advanced solders ever produced. They are equipped with early power suits and Exosuit armor. They are deployed to clear planets of alien non sentient life forms for colonization.

**October 13, 2287** – The TFS _Ozymandius_ survey mission to the Beta Cygni system in the north of earth discovers evidence of intelligent life on a planet dubbed Scylla. However on closer inspection all traces of alien inhabitants appeared to have been swept away in one of the planet's numerous and violent storms.

**September 3, 2300** – A spate of raids and attacks plague southern colonies. These raids have subsequently been attributed to the enigmatic race, colloquially and widely known as the Skinnies. But formally known as the Petolemaic Hegemony.

Would you like to learn more? _Continue_

* * *

**The First Bug war**

**February 20, 2317** – Arachnids are discovered on Pluto and are initially thought to be an indigenous race that had been in hibernation beneath the surface of the planet.

**February 28, 2317** – Cap Troopers are sent to Pluto to exterminate the hostile Arachnid presence.

**December 7, 2319** – SICON announces that the extermination of the Arachnid threat on Pluto has been a success.

**December 8, 2319** – The SICON observation post on Charon reports anomalous readings, seemingly departing Pluto in the wake of SICON's departure from the planet. These reports are met with widespread skepticism.

Would you like to learn more? _Continue_

* * *

**Second Bug war**

**December 24, 2319** – The SICON observation post on Charon again reports anomalous readings, this time heading towards the heart of the Sol system. Fourteen hours later, before Charon's reports can reach Earth, Buenos Aires is destroyed by a mile wide meteor, killing over ten million people, and reducing the historic city to rubble.

**January 21, 2320** – SICON Cap troopers return to Pluto to destroy the bugs that have reappeared there and investigate what's going on.

**July 17, 2320** – Razak's Roughnecks, a Cap Trooper platoon, finds evidence of the Bugs not being native to Pluto, when they detect a Bug ship escaping the planetoid.

**November 29, 2320** – Exploration of the space to the galactic west of Federation territory begins to find bug colonies on other planets and discover remnants of buildings from other civilizations. This leads to a belief that the bugs are a plague that is spread by civilizations that did not realize the threat and that the bugs have only recently developed space travel. The area of space that has a heavier bug population is declared a quarantine zone and prevents any colonization in the region in order to not provoke the bugs.

**September 2, 2320** – The western edge of Skinnie Territory is discovered in the galactic southwest of Earth at Tophet, and after some brief and confused fighting, several Skinnie worlds are cleared of bug influence and infestation. In gratitude, colonists from the Federation and SICON forces are allowed to move in by the local population in return for future protection and chance at citizenship.

**January 15, 2301** – The Skinnies, now known as the Petolemaic Hegemony are revealed to be the raiders that were attacking Earth colonies. The fate of those who had been taken from the Federation was revealed as well. They had been taken as slaves for blood sport, hard labor, and servants. Previously cohabiting planets faced tensions, but have recently been eliminated.

**September 28, 2321** – The TFS _Cortez_ returns from a deep space mission into the Quarantine Zone, though she had taken fire from bug plasma fire, she returned with the location of the Arachnid Homeworld, Klendathu.

**December 5, 2321**– In preparation for a strike on Klendathu, SICON develops a new type of Soldier to deal with bug numbers. The light infantry platoon. Not only can they field more soldiers than a standard power suit platoon by more than double the usual complement, but can be trained in half the time by skipping the extensive and thoroughly exhaustive powersuit training in favor of physical exercise to accommodate the troopers with their more primitive "Light armor". This results in tripling their manpower for the operation. Some military Theorist speculate the mass quantity approach for training and lighter armor will hinder soldier effectiveness.

**February 6, 2322** – The Mobile Infantry launches an invasion of Klendathu and fails, partially because the majority of the Mobile Infantry units deployed are not up to power suit level of equipment that most field commanders are used to, having commanders misusing their new soldiers in actions they are not suited for or at a severe disadvantage in. But mostly because the Mobile Infantry have never dealt with what would later be called a level five bug colony. Many soldiers are left behind on Klendathu, most that are, are never rescued. The 2nd West Edge fleet is formed solely to attack bug planets in the quarantine zone, while the 1st West Edge Fleet would be used to protect earth and her colonies from bug aggression.

**October 7, 2322** – The Gobicahn system on the border of the Quarantine Zone is attacked by a wave of bugs. Gobicahn being rather remote is left to the 18th Battalion "Mad Dogs", a light infantry unit. The reserve platoons of "White's Khans", a powersuits unit, are ordered to hold three planets by themselves. It takes 2 months for the 1st fleet to arrive and provide support for evacuation of the planets and a victory over the bug foe. It is the first major success over the bugs since Klendathu, though it comes at a cost as the Gobicahn colonies never fully recover and are eventually abandoned by the colonist themselves fearing another attack.

**April 5, 2323** – The western edge of the Skinnie hegemony declare their independence from the rest of Hegemony, and the 3rd Southern Edge fleet is created to protect those worlds and attack the East Hegemony.

**May 7, 2323** – The 4th fleet is assembled to map and explore the Northern frontier while the 5th is reorganized to map, explore, and safeguard the Federation on the eastern frontier.

**July 8,2324 – **after years of protecting them from the bug threat and now having to deal with the Eastern Hegemony, the Western edge Skinnie Hegemony is officially annexed into the federation. While done democratically by the populations on the planets, this decision is met with some resistance, as some skinnies and humans do not wish for their independence to be lost, but fear of becoming slaves of the Eastern Hegemony, or the arachnids again, keeps the peace. What military the skinnie planets had is folded into the Mobile Infantry.

**September 20, 2325** – 7 planets in the galactic north west of Federation territory rise up in an event that would be called The Sprange Rebellion. Though there had been rebellions before, they had usually been put down quickly or only been across one planet by a minority. This Rebellion led by General Sprange, a veteran of Klendathu, was different, as his entire army, the garrisoning force upon the world's, went rogue with a majority of the planets. The reasons for the rebellion were many, from political ideology and religion, to taxes. But it was believed that it was Sprange himself who caused the rebellion, by not addressing the concerns of the people with the Federation Council. The 4th fleet moved to put down the rebellion and a bloody war that lasted three months broke out. It finally ended when pathfinder units killed off most of the command staff of the rebel army and when Kellerman's Kodiaks Exosuit Division wiped out forces stationed on four of the planets in Rebellion. The remaining forces either surrendered or fled out of Federation territory. Most of, if not all of the forces that escaped have been accounted for one way or another.

**May 30, 2326** – An unknown race is seen using planets in the galactic north to attack the Arachnid Empire. After research into where they seem to be coming from, Federation Sky Marshal Keats personally leads a large contingent of the 4th fleet to investigate it. They find a battleship on the surface of the planet Venos VII. In curiosity he takes a sizable force down to the planet to meet the aliens. The aliens mistake this for an invasion and fight the troopers deployed to the planet. In the action that followed The Sky Marshal and his guards the Elite Guard Pathfinders, "Sacroix's Spears" are killed in the attack as well as most of the troopers. The fleet takes the survivors on board and begins to fire on the planet but the ship vanishes like it was never there. When the Military intelligence go over the reports they find three things of interest, one: the unknown aliens looked like human with black hair and blue skin, two: they had incredible psychic powers and were even able to deflect bullets and able to unleash nightmares from deep within a soldier's mind, manifesting into the real world, three: they were all women or had features that made them most likely women. This leads to the name, The Coven, when referring to them.

**June 15, 2326** – A Coven force attacks and takes nine Federation colonies, with minimal loss of life on both sides. It was unknown why the Coven did not murder the human population at first, leading to one scientist formerly theorizing that the Coven had a male deficit and were coming to enslave the men of the Human race. While widely panned, the physical visual similarities could not be denied. It was not until a few weeks later a member of the military Intelligence connected the dots and noticed seven of the worlds were part of the Sprange rebellion and the other two were contested worlds during that time frame. Using the idea that both could be related as his working theory, he checked over the reports and found several soldiers and ships that were involved in the fighting reported seeing humans fighting alongside Coven forces. This led to the theory that either the aliens had somehow been involved, or possibly behind, the rebellion (an idea that was beloved by Fed Net conspiracy theorists everywhere), or that the aliens had allied themselves with the remnants of the rebellion.

**October 10, 2326** – the first experimental Powered Armor defense system, known by the code name Marauder 10 or X, is field tested on Hesperus when the planet is invaded by bug forces once more. It is also the first field test of trying to control bugs to fight bugs, this ends badly with a queen the federation had genetically altered taking command of the Bug forces and nearly destroying the Mobile Infantry deployed there. Thankfully for the Marauder X program and the planet, a soldier code named Spooky armed with his power armor led a Light Infantry force to assassinate the bug leader and saves the planet. The armor is approved for full battlefield use soon thereafter.

**January 3, 2327** – A cease Fire with Coven forces is achieved when a Coven ship bearing a message appears near Federation territory, in the message they reveal that they are an Expeditionary force from the other side of bug territory sent to open up another front with the bugs. It also reveals that their last leader believed humans to have been a lost tribe of their kind, and decided to help out a band of them they found beyond Federation borders take back their home from what they thought to be a foreign dictatorship. Upon examination and investigation, the leader stepped down and the new Coven commander called for peace.

**January 8, 2327** – The bugs unleash a virus, Culath, that is spread by blood contact with firefry eggs which are often implanted underneath the skin of soldiers, this virus starts off by causing split personality disorder, then as it progresses begins to change the human physically into a hybrid of bug and man. It is contained and after some testing treatable, but many soldiers who were infected end up either dead or defecting to the bug leadership. Many of these hybrids become top lieutenants of Bug forces.

**April 3, 2327** – The first brain bug is captured by former drill instructor Charles Zim attached to "Blackie's Blackguards" on planet P.

**August 5, 2328** – Tarthis, a jungle planet, is taken from bug control after years of bloody jungle warfare. The final victory is credited to "Merrill's Marauders" who dove deep into the bug tunnels, destroying the queen. And to the Battle cruiser _Erwin Rommel,_ who destroyed over half the planet's jungles in bombardment.

**September 12, 2328** \- The fourth planet of the Saddarka system in the galactic north east, a mining operation is attacked by an unknown alien force in massive ships and bearing large armies of mechs. The aliens savagely attack all humans on the planet until they are all killed. Investigation reveals that the planet is considered territory of an ancient race of short grey aliens with snake like tails that have been watching the humans for a long time. Their math skewed, says that humans would not last as a galactic power, but in their time they would cause the extinction of their race if they do not do something to stem their power. SICON names this race the Fourth. The Fourth takes the name and calls themselves, Fourth: The True Democracy, since every Fourth has access to almost all information gathered. Their military begins preparing to create an ironclad border to prevent Federation expansion into their territory, but one member of their race calling himself a Prophet of War rallies a small independent army and launches a campaign of terror on the north eastern colonies to stop their advance and push them back from the area now called the Fourth Expanse. Officially the Prophet is declared a heretic of the Fourth and all ties are "officially" cut.

**April,7 2329 **– Current Date, we live in interesting times.

Would you like to learn more? _Continue_

* * *

**Space Travel**

The main form of FTL is called the Cherenkov Drive, and relies on a form of magnetic phase shift that protects a vessel and insulates it from the mass-increasing effects of relativistic speeds in physical space. A ship in this shift cannot be harmed by debris unless it comes across something with more mass then the ship, as gravity is the only thing that can affect a ship in this state.

Would you like to learn more? _Continue_

* * *

**Power generation**

A starship requires hydrogen fuel as its main source of energy generation. While this is stored in large tanks that run along the armored underside of most vessels, a starship's primary means of fueling itself for any transit is the atomic scoop mounted to all ships that are expected to make voyages between stars (as opposed to intersystem ships that never leave the orbital rings of a given star). This induction device takes in stray elements in the form of gas, and fractures the atoms into hydrogen atoms. In this way, starships in motion generate some of their own required fuel, but this is not always possible.

Would you like to learn more? _Continue_

* * *

**The Milky Way**

The Federation use the Andromeda galaxy as the North Star for mapping and in all the Milky Way is thought to be 100,000 Ly in diameter.

Would you like to learn more? _Continue_

* * *

**Ship Armor**

Federation ships have armor designed to take a hit from a plasma bug using a steel alloy frame with 2 inch panels, above that there is a 4 inch panel of Ceramic armor running the length of the ship, layered on top of that is a coating designed to dispel the heat from plasma and laser based attacks. While sufficient against micrometeoroid and small meteors, large scale kinetic attacks like ramming have proven... Disastrous.

Would you like to learn more? _Exit_


	2. Chapter 2 Book one (8-31-16)

Chapter 2

_**Vanker**_**, Relay 314 system, 2657GS (April/8/2329AD)**

Looking at the tactical computer, Canus Albiraka debated what could have led to the unknowns opening fire on his ships and if he was somehow at fault. He didn't want to believe he had failed, and he was examining every second of footage from the buzzing as he could, as well as his personal reactions from the ship cameras. Groaning his discontent with the situation he soon decided there was nothing he could do but pick up the pieces at this time. It would be up to high command to determine his guilt in the long run.

He looked on as another life pod was towed towards his ship. They had set about recovering the life pods a half hour ago because they were the only link to this unknown race, but most had attempted to flee which meant it was taking a while to gather them all up as they constantly did their best to evade, and even fire at, his fighters and ships. He would make sure to note this, and send in his recommendations for the survivors to receive commendations, they deserved every bit. They were also the only proof left that showed he was not a bumbling fool and had lost two frigates to some damned pirates, he was awaiting to be informed that they had all been brought on board so they could limp back to base.

"Commander, all the unknowns' life pods have been brought on board sir." An ensign reported from below him in the control trench.

"Thank you. Helm set course for Outpost Phaest."

"Aye sir." After a brief set of calculations, the surviving ship, stuffed to the gills with rescued personnel and captured life pods and transports, went to FTL and traveled towards the nearest Relay, from there it would be three more relays before they reached the patrol outpost.

* * *

**Palaven, Palace of Military Affairs,** **2657GS (April/13/2329AD)**

Admiral Septimus Oraka walked down the hallways of the Palace of Military Affairs, he was heading towards a meeting room in the sub basements, where a crisis was being discussed. He didn't know what it was exactly, but he had been informed of it through highly encrypted channels, and told it was of the utmost secrecy. He opened the door to the room and immediately realized that this may be even more serious than he previously imagined.

Standing in center of the room was a young Turian commander, standing on the central pedestal, sat around the room behind a table that followed the wall in a crescent, were some of the highest ranked Turians in all of Citadel space.

Primarch Fedorian sat directly in the center of the crescent with the Naval officials to his left and the Army officials to his right, including himself there were six officials, three army, three navy.

There was General Desolas Arterius, one of the most recognized and respected Turian field commanders in history, Field Marshal Brutus Tirius, overall commander of the Turian ground forces, second only to Primarch Fedorian, then there was General Turius Linthfus commander of the infamous Turian Blackwatch.

The three Naval officials were himself, in command of the Turian home fleet, Fleet Admiral Julrus Marthus overall commander of the Turian fleets, and an admiral whose name Oraka could never remember hearing, ever.

"Ah Oraka, good to see you old friend." Septimus saluted his 'old friend', Primarch Fedorian.

"Here as ordered sir, good to see you as well Primarch." Septimus replied, then headed for his seat, Septimus pulled up a chair in between Marthus and Fedorian and sat down.

"Please Commander Albiraka, could you start from the beginning for everyone here." The now named Turian nodded.

"Yes sir, we were patrolling relay 314 as ordered to ensure there was no pirate or slaver activity in the area." He paused for a second to gather himself, "When we entered the system we discovered an unknown ship next to relay 314, which was activated."

"What happened next?" Quizzed Desolas patiently.

"The ship, upon detecting my flotilla, started to make what I estimated was emergency speed towards the relay. Unsure of its class and designation at the time, I hailed it and we started to run through our database of ships it could possibly be. It was soon concluded the ship was of an unknown make, manufacture, and design, alongside numerous unknown system that made up the ship. I had already ordered my two frigates to move closer and try to get between the ship and the relay. After making a micro-FTL jump to within a few tens of thousands of kilometers, the unknown opened fire with a directed energy weapon, disabling the trailing frigate, killing several crewmen of the ship. I am glossing over a multitude of minutia included in my written report, that lead me to believe, too late, that it was preparing to fire. The ship proceeded to fire single red beam of light, a laser, at the _Ignoble_, The frigate was rendered inoperable in a single shot, hitting her amidship and killing the pilot and navigator. The shot proceeded to travel through the neck of the ship, and disabled it completely" The temperature of the room seemed to drop five degrees.

'_Impossible_,' thought Oraka, not even the Salarians have a directed energy weapon that powerful. There was silence as the Officers attempted to process this story. It was obvious from the looks passing from a few of the Naval personnel that they thought the officer before them, without this solid irrefutable proof, some may have thought the officer lying.

"Please commander, continue with your story," Fedorian stated, turning to the others, "I know this story seem incredible, but I have already seen some of the evidence he brought back. We rushed him here as soon as we learned of the seriousness of the situation."

Albiraka continued, "I know sirs it's hard to believe, but it is true. The _Ignoble_ opened fire, after review it was caused by surprise, the return fire crippled the unknown ship, at which point life pods and shuttles craft were jettisoned. The unknown fired once more with all its laser weaponry, of which we have determined was 4 turrets, two on each flank. I ordered the other frigate to board the ship and retrieve a sample of the technology and to rescue the crew, but the unknowns rigged there ship to explode, resulting in the crippling of the other frigate."

"Convenient." The Admiral Oraka could not name muttered.

"Admiral." Fedorian scolded and denying Oraka his name, "I have had the unknowns moved to a facility to be interrogated, but we have had an unknown and dangerous race step into citadel space, we need to come up with a strategy to deal with them if they are as hostile as they appear before we have another Rachni or Krogan war."

* * *

**Palaven, interrogation room,** **2657GS (April/13/2329AD)**

Jonathan Grant sat in a metal chair, wishing his hands weren't restrained to the table. Not because he wanted to escape or anything, though that would be a plus, the problem was he just had one of those beard that unless he attended to it every day it would grow uncontrollably. After five days without shaving, his cheeks and chin were itchy as all hell. Sighing he almost wished he had turned his escape pod back towards the ship before it blew, the key word being almost as he very much preferred to be alive.

So far the aliens, "raptors" as one of the other prisoners had nicknamed them, had treated him and the other prisoners well enough. They even provided them with food they could eat, though by the way raptors have handled it he had to guess they could not. Which in itself was an interesting fact, if they had food for species other than their own; it probably meant they had contact with at least one other alien race. Not to mention the fact they hadn't been tortured for information was a good sign… unless that was what was about to happen.

Sighing Jonathan considered the protocol on the situation, his best chance was just to give name, rank, ship, and serial number until someone back at the Federation realized something had gone wrong and sent help. But that could take months and he really doubted they would ever be able to send help. Sitting back in his chair, he considered maybe saying a thing or two just to keep his captors happy, and ultimately decided against it. They wouldn't understand him anyway and by the time help got here they **may** have learned the basics of their language. He closed his eyes to think and began to relax but then he heard the door open…

* * *

**Palaven, interrogation room,** **2657GS(April/13/2329AD)**

Corporal Linthus Barius opened the door to the Interrogation room and again marveled at how Asari like the being was in front of him, except with a lack of head crests and breasts and a growth of fur on his head and face. He had already helped in the integration of several of the other aliens and most had been less than forthcoming, but some had at least tried to communicate.

He looked at the being carefully as he sat down across from him. He activated the translator device and looked at the alien, all they needed were a few more samples of the alien's languages then they could start translating. Normally it would have been relatively trivial to establish communications, but the level of classified this species had around it made it impossible at the time to get any outside contractors. Particularly Asari.

What made it even more frustrating was the alien's base coding for their computers was entirely foreign, not a hint of Prothean influenced architecture or designs. Everything had been made from scratch by these beings, which meant he had to take the excruciatingly long way of decrypting their coding language denying him another avenue of communication, making this a process that would take months to fully capture the nuances and vocabulary if he had to extract it from such a limited pool of uncooperative people.

To make it worse the aliens seemed to have a variety of languages, most were similar to one another they must have a main one but they had yet to identify which one it was, everyone he talked to had a different dialect or language entirely, one would speak one way with a long drawl, the next quickly and garbling their words as they did. When he observed them talking with each other they had uniformed their accents and languages to one, but his samples were limited, and once again not always the same language.

Collecting himself he began. He pointed to himself, and said, "Turian", he pointed to the alien, it looked at him and said something in its native language. Guessing from the length and the rehearsed nature, he could make a general guess, Name, rank, serial number.

How original. This process continued with the alien rehearsing his mantra a few times, only breaking it to make comments that he guessed was something like, "I can do this all day". Leaning back in his chair, Linthus waited for about 5 minutes before the translator beeped. At that point he gladly left the room and gave it to a waiting technician, who then disappeared into another room. With nothing to do, Linthus sat down and listened to music for half an hour before the tech came back. Handing him a stop gap translator the size of a ring box. Activating it, he walked back inside and resumed his previous position.

"Can you understand me now?" The alien's eyes widened slightly, and even Linthus could detect a hint of understanding, but the alien quickly resumed his previous bored look.

"I'll take that as a yes, now then shall we begin-"

"_Now hold on here_!" The alien interrupted, Linthus' device simply converted, 'stop at position', "_How the hell did you figure out English from a few snide comments and name rank and serial number? For that matter how the hell did you learn how to speak it so fast? It's like the most complicated language we have_." 'What the afterlife, _English_ remarks and serial number name rank? How afterlife do you speak fast? _English_ stupidly complicated' Beyond the broken sentence structure, Linthus hoped he was being translated properly.

Barius looked the alien over and replied slowly, "You weren't the only alien we have been talking to, one alien talked so much she may have told us her whole life story, another spoke at length of the mass effect relays and that he was going to be as well known as 'Cherenkov'. And another kept blaming an organization called the 'fleet' for about everything."

"_Okay I see how you could have learned it but being able to speak it_?" Gibberish was converted to not so gibberish, 'Understand how speak, but how speak?' Linthus rubbed a talon over his features, thinking he eventually came to the right conclusion.

Pulling out the ring box sized translator, Linthus pointed at it. "This." He said simply.

"_Oh… well I'll tell you now I'm not going to tell you much of anything useful… hmm though telling you what we're called on the other hand is not useful except to stop the use of alien. We're called Terrans, that's our nation, species wise we go by Humans but most of us prefer Terrans, keeps it simple that way._" Linthus listened closely, 'Tell you, not much. Will tell name so not foreign. We _Terran_, military/nation, people _humans_, want _Terran_, simple'.

* * *

**Priamarch office, 2657GS (April/18/2329AD)**

After several days of interrogation, four things had became apparent to Priamarch Fedorian, 1: The aliens, or Terrans as they preferred, had three major languages with a spattering of minor languages they had yet to decrypt. 2: The aliens were hard to break, all of them were trained to be resistant to interrogation.

One of the aliens had somehow gotten free and attacked his interrogator, he was now little more than quivering lump of meat with most of his bones broken, and in the process had actually managed to knock out his interrogator and hold off a couple MPs. But even in that state he still refused to give information and in fact started singing something rather fatalistic. The lyrics went something like, "it's a good day to die when you know the reasons why," but other than providing a possible snapshot of the culture he came from it was not useful beyond a biology lesson.

3: The aliens did not use element zero in their weapons, or anything they could find for that matter, while examining the escape pods they had captured, the engineers found suitcases built into them carrying some sort of carbine rifle and lots of ammunition for them. The weapons used projectiles that were launched by explosive chemical charges. If he didn't know better, he would think they had only recently came upon space, perhaps only in this century. But their laser weaponry, and the speed of their mother ship had spoken of experience in shipmaking.

4: He was extremely tired.

Thinking about how to deal with these aliens was weighing heavily on his mind, and they just didn't have enough information. To fix that he had dispatched Commander Albiraka and Admiral Varlikam to ascertain the motives behind these aliens, the Commander had been sent to the scout the other side of relay 314 and make peaceful contact if possible.

* * *

_**Vanker**_**, Relay 314 system, 2657GS (April/22/2329AD)**

Canus Albiraka felt the sudden deceleration as he was heading back to the Relay 314 system along with Admiral Varlikam's Fleet to scout out whatever maybe on the other end.

The Fleet was made up of whatever they could impress upon the spot at the patrol station, six frigates, four cruisers, and Albirus' dreadnought, _THS Hierarchy's Fist. _They were making all haste to the relay and the assumed unknowns territory, and possibly homeworld.

As he sat watching the ships moving in the space around his own, he couldn't help but contemplate what would await them beyond Relay 314, would this new race be as bad as the Krogan and Rachni, or would this all be a misunderstanding that would be swept under the galactic rug. He personally hoped that whatever lay in those uncharted regions of space would be less violent than they had appeared in their first meeting.

* * *

**East Federation territory, Shanxi system, TFS FF-400 **_**John D. Sloat**_**, April/22/2329AD**

Commodore Erica Chavez smiled as the message from high command transferred to her compad, the fact it had come in written form, and not a recorded message boded well. Opening the message on her pad she hoped that the extra week it had taken to get the message meant something good.

_From the Office of Sky Marshal R. Lee Sanchez, Eastern Command_

_Dear Commodore Chavez _

_After reading your report on the alien artifact I was most intrigued. I brought it to the Sky Marshal in Chief's attention, who was even more interested than me for it seems he knows what it is. He told me that two similar objects had been found last year; one deep in bug territory, the other just inside the former Western Skinnie Hegemony. Of course they have been kept a secret, but since you have one in your hands you will figure it out soon enough that the device is able to transport ships great distances, at an instantaneous speed. _

_The Sky Marshal in chief has given me the authority to decide what we will do with this discovery, and though I feel some trepidation I think we must investigate where this device goes. I want to send the 5th fleet and most of the 9th army to Shanxi, but I am afraid the devices on the western front are already having an effect there. _

_I am however able to send about a dozen ships and another brigade, but most of my forces are being sent west to help in a major operation. You have the go ahead to proceed as you please with the device, but I would recommend waiting the three weeks for the reinforcement to arrive before you try anything substantial. Good luck commodore, and if you find yourself in a first contact situation, remember this; DON'T do what Sky Marshal Keats did, we don't need another hostile power like the Coven."_

"Oh my god…" Erica Chavez dropped the pad on the desk and stood up in horror as she looked upon it. She was glad to see she was in the clear, well she was in the clear as long as the Ragnar came back unharmed and without making more enemies, but that's not what horrified her.

Reading between the lines and seeing what was really going on both scared and exhilarated her. They were at least pulling the 9th army and maybe the 10th army and the majority of the 5th fleet off this front to head west, not a big deal since the east was the only front they didn't have a war on, but no doubt they were also taking along the first or second army and the half of the 1st fleet, put that together with what was already in the west, and one realized half of all military power the federation currently had was moving against the bugs. And from how plainly the Sky Marshall said this it meant that whatever happened has already gone beyound the efforts any spy would have on it.

The way the sky marshal had mentioned the effect the device was having on that front told her a lot more on what was the plan was, they were going to hit Klendathu again, and most likely all the nearby planets. If the device was deep in bug territory it would allow them to sneak behind the bug's super colony ships that had recently slowed the taking of bug territory, and avoid the queens on planets in their way from warning Big K, preventing the bug military build that had doomed the first invasion.

She sat back down to catch her breath, if she was right and the invasion went well, they could win the war, sure they would still be bugs out there, but without their homeworld and the controlling force of the queens there, they would most likely dissolve into a civil war, at least… that was the leading theory.

A pain in her prosthetic left arm reminded her though that whatever happen, win or lose, there would be death and pain waiting for the soldiers that landed on that rock, if they decided to land on the rock that was. She clasped her hands in front of her about to pray for those soldiers when the A.I.s green line appeared on the nearby screen. "Captain you are required on the bridge."

Erica jumped up, "What's going on Sloat?"

"The Escort corvette _Argonaut_ has reported a fleet of unknown vessels has appeared in system, she has issued-" Erica was up and already moving toward the door heading for the bridge, "-She has opened fire on the vessels"

"FUCK, FUCK, FUCK! Find out what the fucks going on and who she's shooting at!" Erica ordered, rushing for the bridge.

To be continued


	3. Chapter 3 Book one(8-31-16)

(holy beep blood raven is an awesome beta and AT this point co author, full credit to reworking of chapter 3)

Chapter 3

**THS **_**Hierarchy's Fist**_**, Relay 314 system, 2657GS, April/22/2329 AD**

Admiral Albirus Varlikam, commander of the expedition into unknown space waited for his fleet to assemble fully. As a career Naval officer, he found it rather hard to believe the energy weapons story, but the Terran prisoners were indisputable proof that something lay on the other side of the active relay and they needed to know what in case they had to fight it. Varlikam looked to his communication officer and ordered a fleet wide communique with the captains of the vessels under his command.

"Sailors and Soldiers of the Hierarchy, today we venture into territories unknown, I cannot begin to speculate what we are going to encounter on the other side of this relay, but if what we encountered earlier is any indication it will it may be nothing like we have seen before, so prepare yourselves for anything and be ready to make history, all ships ahead full."

With that said, he ended the transmission and had the fleet plot course toward the relay to discover what may lay hidden on the other side.

* * *

**TFS FF-400 **_**John D. Sloat**_**, Shanxi system, April/22/2329AD**

Erica skidded to a stop in the bridge, greeting the chaos of her staff trying to figure out what was happening, something she wanted to know just as much. She looked to her communication's officer for answers.

"What's happening lieutenant Connor?"

_"_Ma'am_, _the _Argonaut _is reporting a fleet of forty ships are appearing in system."

"What!?" Erica asked as she took her seat stunned by the number she was hearing. "Did – did they come from the structure?" fearing that fate had decided to be cruel to her again she prepared for the worst.

"No ma'am, _Argonaut _is reporting that the ships came from the galactic south alignment"

"Get the _Argonaut _to send us a visual now! I want to know what they're fighting."

Connor nodded and turned to his communication station asking for the required info and a few moment later, "They're sending an audio file over and requesting support."

Erica spied the map, "The destroyer _Waterloo _is close to her position. Send her to provide support and have the _Argonaut _withdraw towards us_. _The rest of the fleet will regroup near the gas giant, the rings, asteroids, and moons should provide enough cover and line of sight breaking debris." Connor affirmed, and began sending out orders while Erica picked up the nearby pad and brought up the file; she pressed play and something she couldn't understand came up, "Could have translated it first." She complained, not recognizing the language at all, she hit the auto translation key, and gave it a few moment to compute.

"_This is Lord Tel'rock, Master of the Kingdom of Lockhet, and council elected commander of the Ptolemaic Hegemony Forces inside this system. I will say this once and only once; this planet, its resources, and all her people now belong to the Ptolemaic Hegemony, if your leaders surrender now they will be allowed to keep their post only serving in our interest. If you refuse this kind offer, I will sell your leaders into the gladiatorial pit myself and watch as you fight each other to the death. If you're thinking this is another raid and all you have to do is wait us out, you are fools who has become complacent. This force represents only a small portion of the attacks being taken out on Terran territory. The time of Terran superiority and treaty breaking is over, a new age is dawning, one where might makes right and the Hegemony rules space unopposed."_

Erica was stunned, if the blasted Skinnies had really come to Shanxi to conquer and enslave, that meant they were facing an unprecedented situation. She looked over to Connor, "Send a message to General Williams tell him to prepare for an extended siege… and where is my visual!?"

"We're receiving visual now ma'am" Connor replied as the main screen came to life showing them a delayed feed of a fleet firing gold lasers at the camera and crimson lasers returning fire. Erica looked over the fleet and recognized twenty Skinnie raider craft which were 150 meters long, dart like with green painted hulls and gold decals on their sides. There was also 15 Tribe Transports, they were about the size of destroyers and almost looked like space faring blades. All of this was not particular worrying, but The four ships near the front of the fleet and the one near the back drove up the lethality of the fleet by a large amount. In the front of the fleet were four Roger Young class corvettes painted the green and gold of the skinnie fleet, they were mostly likely captured transports that had been modified and upgraded with skinnie lasers to make them frigates meaning they had four frigates to her one. To add to their troubles Erica could see that the ship at the back was well over 600 meters and bristling with guns, a skinnie dreadnought painted gold with green and red markings along the hull. The ship looked massive compared to all the others.

The front of the ship was pointed with a blunt noise that ran 350 meters back and had horizontal towers that rose out of her hull at the fifty meter mark and then swept back withdrawing back into the main body which widened near the aft to bring more guns to bear and provide lodging for her crew.

"Fuck.." Was the only thing Erica could say.

* * *

Erica watched the screen showing no fear to her crew, though in truth she really wanted to order her fleet to withdraw. She couldn't though, her force was the only thing standing between Shanxi and the Skinnie threat. Looking out of her bridge window she saw the fleet moving slowly toward their position with _Argonaut_ and _Waterloo _putting up a brave fight as they retreated back to the fleet, but she could tell they weren't going to make it in any fighting condition.

The _Argonaut _was already burning, her hull plating broken open in several places and her engines had been blown off by a lucky shot or the dreadnaught's guns had sheared them off. The _Waterloo _had apparently rigged a tow cable and was trying to pull her but they were slower than the skinnie fleet and would soon be overtaken by them. There was very little chances they would make it back to the fleet and she couldn't risk leaving the safety of the gas giant's asteroid belt and moons.

The gas giant and her moons were going to be the big draw of the colonist some day, each having trillions of tons of minerals, but right now they were giving them an edge. The magnetic fields in this area created a sensor dead zone, paired with her silent running orders, and as far as the skinnies knew there was no one else here. They just had to wait until they were close enough and they could spring the trap and send every nuke they had at them point blank range. It was their only chance to knock out the majority of their force out and right now that was the only thing they could do.

"Ma'am the _Waterloo_-" He didn't get to finish the sentence, as the _Waterloo_ and _Argonaut_ vaporized themselves in a sacrificial nuclear blast.

"Damn." Erica muttered, she had hoped they would either turn back to face the enemy or take a few of the enemy with a stunt like that, but those brave men and woman had just spited the enemy by preventing them from being captured along with their ships.

It was simple to realize that her fleet stood no chance at defeating the enemy forces. Even without the dreadnought she was outnumbered nearly ten to one, even as the defender those odds would see her crushed in a few minutes, maybe a few hours at most. So she scrapped the frontal assault plan, despite the advantage of the Skinnie's momentarily blind sensors from the nuclear explosions.

Than she smiled a horrible terrible grin, as she remembered what this Lord Tel'Rock had said. _Invasion. _They were going to invade with those fifteen Tribe transports. Tribe transports like any transport built by someone sane was built to withstand atmospheric entry, and heavily armored, to keep their cargo alive in case of an unexpectedly bumpy ride. But they would be hard pressed to survive a dedicated assault against them. And if they had any hull breaches, they wouldn't be able to land due to the risk of having the entire ship incinerate. If she did this right, she could delay the invasion by days, possibly even a week. Hell if she got REALLY lucky she may avert the invasion altogether despite her tiny defense force.

The best moment to strike would be when they are about to land, when the entire attack fleet is starting their orbital bombardment to soften up any garrisons they detect. That attack would be inevitable and she knew that General Williams would have prepared for it by now.

With her remaining two destroyers, two escorts, and her own frigate with a fuel tender she felt she could do some serious boom and zoom damage. Hit them fast, hit them where it hurt, and then get out of the system and report to command with fresh intel and that they need a liberation fleet. It would be hard, and a bit risky if those Skinnie raiders could turn around fast enough to catch her fleet in the ass. But it was all she could do.

"Conner, open up a channel to the other officers, and link our tactical maps." She ordered, moving to her command chair and pulling up the primary screen and setting up her plan quickly.

"Aye aye ma'am."

* * *

**THS **_**Hierarchy's Fist**_**, unknown system,**

As the Hierarchy fleet decelerated and arrived in the unknown space Admiral Varlikam was looking closely over the information from the Terran interrogations. There was no new intel, the Terrans had showed resistance to release even the most basic of details, and those were the cooperative ones. But he was putting together some ideas about how the Terrans would react to the Hierarchy fleet.

For instance they utilized several primary languages when speaking, mostly likely that meant they had only been united for 200 to 300 years as a species, combining this with an apparent and explosive fear of the unknown, or perhaps more likely Aliens in general, and he could conclude the worst; being shot on sight with no time to warn them he was of no threat.

Especially with a fleet meant to take on an entire star system anyways. If they simply rolled in and tried to assert their dominance it would end in a war, probably not a long war but any war with a new species would severely damage their reputation in Citadel space, and may even extend to the Citadel Council themselves.

They already had a reputation as bullies by the Quarians and some other minor races in Citadel space, they didn't need to add warmonger to that as well. If the conflict got bad enough their council seat itself could be in jeopardy, and they could even end up like the Krogan if it got _THAT _bad.

He skimmed over of the last few intelligence files as his bridge crew busied themselves over data they accumulated from the sensors or just manning their stations in preparation for the worst. He felt pride in his species discipline working at their task with diligent talons. He was about to order a report when his sensor officer preempted him.

"Sir preliminary intelligence has just come in from the recon corvette. There is six notable planetary objects in this system; of these we have four planets, only the fourth planet appears to be a garden world, with a gas giant and a planetoid as the furthest object-" He stopped as he looked over something with evident confusion, "Sir! The Corvette is reporting a fleet that does not match Terran specifications! Its bombarding the Garden World! The Lieutenant thinks they are using Nuclear weapons!"

"Well this seems convenient for us." Varlikam intrigued, worry sketched upon his features.

"Sir! New signatures! A frigate flotilla is coming from the Gas Giant-! By the Spirits, they're firing nuclear weapons on the enemy support ships and cruiser! Bombarding fleet is turning around to engage!" His communications officer looked like he was having fit as he kept trying to relay the situation, which was simply too far for their sensors to depict an accurate picture of.

"Helmsmen! Take us is in, I want to know what is going on." The situation was possibly useful to their reputation, if there was some sort of disaster in progress and the Hierarchy came to their rescue, well they would be the Terran's heroes.

"Aye sir."

* * *

**TFS FF-400**_** John D. Sloat**_

Erica's plan paid off. She and her flotilla of ships used the Gas Giant's gravity well to sling-shot around, keeping low as long as possible before jumping to FTL in the empty space between planets and coming out within firing range of the Skinnie's exposed rears.

She had prepped all of her nuclear payload, and when they were within the enemy's defensive fire launched all eight 1 teraton M-999A2 Atomic Ajax Munitions nuclear weapons plus the last nuclear warhead she salvaged from her fuel tender. Even before they fired their laser cannons, they purposefully waited until the nuclear explosions weakened the enemy's hull. If they got lucky, the pair of nukes fired at the dreadnought would weaken its shields and armor enough that they may actually be able to seriously disable it. But their primary targets were the Tribe Transports.

Already she had ordered her Destroyers to make best speed to Shanxi's biggest cities to provide fire support, and give those Raiders a good mauling on the way down and keep them off the rest of her fleet. The best course to the planet was actually the course that the Transports were taking for descent into the atmosphere, meaning they would easily give a good report of themselves as they made their way through the MIDDLE of the enemy's formation, likely interrupting their organization and causing extra chaos.

So it was when the first nuke encountered the unsuspecting Transport, exploding five kilometers away, it had lost its entire port side, meters of compartments, armor, and bulkheads just melted off, revealing a pretty good cross section of the ship and forming a massive hole in their hull. She marked it for Laser Turret broadsides and priority target for her two dozen fighters her escorts had.

The next Nuclear weapon was pulled off its mark by seven kilometers, exploding against the transports hull, frying its cameras and electronics, but managing to at least blind the vessel and cause it to pull up out of formation in fear that it would climb down too steep and rip itself apart against Shanxi's atmosphere. It was soon out of the fighting zone and considered a non target.

The third nuke made up for the second's unsatisfying effects. Impacting directly amidship, the teraton bomb literally vaporized the transport and reduced it to a billion tiny pieces, nothing bigger than a human head. When it started to go into the planet's atmosphere it produced a beautiful and rare shooting star storm, awing both sides of fighters in the next night.

The fourth showed how the element of surprise is an overwhelming force. The ship captain, worried that his vessel's fate will share his third comrade's, ordered panicked evasive maneuvers making emergency evasive maneuvers, managing to evade the nuclear missile intended for him allowing it to explode and impact one of the escorting Raider class ships, disabling it and dooming it to a fate of orbital decay if it wasn't saved. All of this was for naught as another nuclear missile, having missed its intended target adjusted course for a secondary target, the Tribe transport ship now out of formation from its panicked maneuvers, missing by a mere 3 kilometers, its proximity sensor deemed it within the kill radius and detonated. It proceeded to obliterate the panicked captain and his bridge crew, exploding off the aft flank, reducing the engines to melted slag and destroying the associated compartments, which included the Bridge and engineering deck. The rear echelon soldiers inside were saved by the redundant life support systems, and the emergency thrusters pushing the crippled ship out of the intended planetary descent, saving its passengers a slower death by suffocation and hunger if they weren't recovered by a rescue ship.

The fourth nuclear weapon never got a chance to detonate, from the flying debris and defensive gun fire from all the Hegemony ships, it never reached its destination, instead it never met its intended use even, its engine destroyed, the warhead damaged beyond self detonation, and its course destined to space unknown, likely to never meet another living soul as it becomes more space debris and dust.

The fifth's detonation was much like the second, blinding the sensors of its intended target and forcing it to disengage from its intended course. Likely giving the defenders hours before it could readjust and land its troops, eagerly awaiting to feel earth between their feet and death.

The last nuke intended for the Transports exploded a trio of kilometers from its target. The physical force pushing against the dropship, and melting through tens of meters of Skinnie Steel armor before being stopped by the innermost bulkheads, well and truly crippling the ship and killing a good chunk of the occupants.

The final two nukes ordered to hurt the enemy dreadnought had much more disappointing effects, with the Dreadnought having been much more prepared and obviously more experienced than the lesser vessels. The first nuclear weapon was shot out by defensive laser fire. The second atomic weapon exploded several kilometers out, something triggering it before it reached its target. Resulting in nothing more than blinded sensors for the meantime.

While the supposed finale was disappointing that wasn't the grand finale just yet. The Fleet's fuel tender, _Potomac_ had after topping off everyone's fuel tanks and giving them more than recommended in their fuel bunker's, proceeded to prepare itself for scuttling. For the Terran's that meant a huge explosion, preferably within range of an enemy ship to kill the offending alien bastard who caused it.

Its target was one of the Rodger Young Class ships, captured by the Skinnies. Formerly known as _TFS Jean Pierre _now renamed PHS _Turncoat_, the _Potomac _finished what the previous crew failed to do. From a launched escape pod, destined for Shanxi's surface, the bridge crew guided their enormous rocket towards the turning turncoat. When it impacted, it was moving at over 100,000 kilometers per second, in an uncontrolled descent towards the planet below, in its path the _Turncoat _never stood the chance to even evade. Its impact very nearly smashed the vessel in half, it was then that the self destruct nuclear charge planted on the _Potomac's_, reactor went off. The fuel tender, filled with hundreds of thousands of tons of fuel, initiated its self destruct fully. In a civilian incident it would have been known as the most devastating industrial accident involving a fuel tender ever. The two ships detonated in a 9 megaton explosion, incinerating both ships and turning the _Turncoat _and its loyal crew to ash.

It was then that a fleet of never before encountered ships arrived 65,000 kilometers above the battlefield, arrayed diligently to ensure that no stray shot shall impact the planet.

* * *

**THS **_**Hierarchy's Fist**_

"Sir there appears to be a skirmish happening." Admiral Varlikam did nothing, as he watched three grey ships, a cruiser and two frigates, by council standards, desperately struggle against a much larger force with a green hull and gold trim, while two more frigates were zooming in the middle of the enemy formation towards the planet's surface. Two of the ships looked like the grey cruisers, just re-colored but many of the other ships had their own style.

"Sir I'm detecting radiological readings! By the Spirits, it's like they detonated suns here!" It was then an explosion of fuel and nuclear radiation came when one ship rammed the other and his sensors reported, "That was a 9 megaton explosion sir! I think they purposely rammed!"

Well it seemed to have the desired effect as many of the opposing ships were sent into further disarray as the descending greys fired their broadside lasers into anything within range, causing significant damage as surprise and confusion reigned among all the ranks. Varlikam knew the importance of surprise. It was the first thing drilled into every soldier, it could even be boiled down to a mathematical formula, when true surprise was achieved, you had 30 seconds to three minutes of a three to three hundred times to your force strength. And here the greys were demonstrating that effortlessly against the greens, almost getting away scot free. It was why raids deep inside an opponent's lines were so devastating if they weren't detected earlier, soldiers get frozen with surprise and commanders get shocked.

"Comms. open channel, attention all forces in system, hold your fire and stop any aggressive operations immediately, this is Admiral Albirus Varlikam to the forces above the fourth planet of this system, we request that-" He never got to finish his plea for a cease fire as one of his frigates was ripped in half by one of the green and gold ships lasers.

"Sir the Green cruiser has fired upon the frigate _Sky Castle_! They used a DEW! Nothing left of _Castle_."

Filled with anger, the Admiral collected himself as he felt his helm turian take evasive maneuvers and watched as the rest of his fleet did likewise, "All ships concentrate fire on the green cruiser, destroy it."

As his Dreadnought began to orient its main cannon all of his ships fired on the skinnie dreadnought.

* * *

**TFS FF-400 **_**John D. Sloat**_

"FIRE EVERYTHING!" Erica yelled as her ship rocked again as a yellow laser hit the side of her vessel, the heat dispersing for the most part, but leaving black scars and opening up a weakened section of hull. Her element of surprise had expired and now the enemy crews were getting organized.

Their first broadside was devastating, the fighters finished off the first Tribe transport, destroying it, her two destroyers had managed to core two of the Raiders reducing them to floating hunks launching escape pods.

She was just fortunate the Skinnie dreadnought had decided to busy itself with the new fleet that arrived in system and spoke gibberish.

"Ma'am, The _Black Prince's_ engines are going critical!" Her sensor operator reported.

"God damn skinnies." She cursed as the _Black Prince,_ a destroyer, went up in flames out the port window, shuttles, escape boats, and pods launching from their dockings. That meant only one destroyer was left to support the ground engagement. Which was not really enough to combat all the skinnie raiders and tribe transports with the first wave already landed and attacking the forces on Shanxi.

"Time to pull out, recall all fighters, tell the escorts to give cover fire and focus fire on those raiders, and weapons, fire all laser cannons against that Rodger Young, aim for the weak section!" It was the best she could do for the troopers down on planet taking out a significant portion of the enemy forces, and requiring them to waste resources saving their trapped soldiers in orbit, she only had the two escorts left under her command, _Chauvin_ and _Isabella _and she needed them with her ship to draw the attention of the enemy big guns. Thanks to the new fleet the enemy dreadnought was preoccupied allowing her forces to escape.

* * *

**THS **_**Hierarchy's Fist**_

Surprisingly their mass effect accelerated rounds were more effective than if it had been any old pirate ship, tearing large chunks from the green vessels.

Varlikam watched as the enemy fleet began to engage his own, in such disorder that if the fleet had been smaller victory would have been assured. However their numbers were greater and they swarmed over his two forward frigates, seemingly identifying his force as the much more dangerous group. The small dart like ships, using their yellow laser to quickly carve up the frigates like a holiday meal before any of their other craft could get a good lock on with their primary guns, resorting to their weaker broadsides.

"This is a disaster in the making, signal a withdrawal." He ordered as the largest of the alien ships came into view and fired a yellow beam at his ship barely missing it, "But first have one last volley at that ship, let's make it clear they are out of their league." The gunnery officer fired, and within moments more rounds were sent at the enemy cruiser, but something weird happen, when many of the rounds got too close to the ship they seemed turn up, down, and to the sides going around the vessel in some cases.

"Damn." Varlikam commented as the enemy cruiser opened up again this time hitting one his cruisers doing enough damage to it that it nearly began a direct dive at the planet, he saw it start to pull up once it hit the atmosphere. The cruiser moved to get a better fire radius when several ground to space DEWs pierced the atmosphere and took the ship unaware, hitting something vital and causing massive secondary explosions to ripple throughout the cruiser.

The green and gold cruiser was then torn in half in a quarter minute of bombardment, but not before it sliced one of the Turian frigates up the spin as a last act of spite.

"Sir the grey ships are following us!"

"Let them, they may be able to fill us in on what the hell is going on." Varlikam said, trying to figure out what he could have possibly have said to cause the green ships to attack them.

* * *

**TFS FF-400 **_**John D. Sloat**_

Erica thanked god and all his unwashed saints for Skinnie stupidity, "Fucking idiots." Erica said out loud with a smirk as what was left of her flotilla chased after the aliens. The skinnie had attacked the aliens because they had used a mix of terran languages to communicate, ending up sounding like gibberish, which did mean the _Ragnar_ was involved, but from what she had deciphered they had tried to stop the fighting which is why she was willing to run after them. Sure for all she knew the aliens she was chasing were worse than the Skinnies, but the Skinnie tomfoolery had assured a peace with the aliens until the aliens got revenge which made them her allies. Well they would want revenge if there were like every other race in space; she doubted she would be unlucky enough to find the mythical space hippies.

* * *

**THS **_**Vanker**_** on Shanxi**

Canus Albiraka fell to the floor of the bridge as his ship crashed landed on to the planet almost regretting taking the hit for _Hierarchy's Fist_.

Almost.

He quickly pulled himself back up and took stock of the situation as his bridge crew went about finding out how the rest of ship had fared. Things were not good, he and his crew were trapped on an unknown planet, at war with an unknown force, and if what he was hearing was true he had no way of get off the planet. All he could do was prepare to defend the ship and hope help arrived soon before fate decided to fuck him over again this month.

* * *

**Petolemaic Transport **_**Sunrise**_** on Shanxi**

Lord Tel'rock looked up at the sky, watching the debris of one the few great dreadnoughts fall and burn, "DAMN THE TERRANS…" He yelled as his command staff worked in the ship behind him to get the fleet communication up and running again. He turned to the human standing next to him, "General Projak, I thank you for your insight, if we had not moved the command staff to one of the smaller vassals like you suggested we would have died up there with the dreadnought."

General James Projak cleaned some dust off his glasses and nodded, "I'm simply doing what I can for the Hegemony my lord, no thanks is needed." He commented in accented Petolemaic_._

* * *

**TFS FF-400 **_**John D. Sloat**_

"Sir I have opened Dr. Selvo's files and have begun the calculations to use the device." One of the bridge crew reported.

"Good, once we're through, send over the standard first contact info, hopefully they will be smart enough to use it so we can understand them." She said as the ship came into line with the relay and was catapulted forward. She didn't have time to take in the grandeur of the event so she focused on calculating what they would need to do. Shanxi was on the edge of Terran space and even making good time, at best the people there would need to hold out for 21 days for reinforcements, it could be done but by the time the fleet got there maybe half the population of the planet would already be on their way into slavery in the Hegemony. The Skinnies would then most likely abandon the planet and head back into their home space and then finding out what happened to the prisoners would be near impossible. At worst, the Skinnies would succeed in their claim, capture the planet, and then possibly fortify it. She needed to get these aliens on her side fast so they could mount a counter attack and save the people of Shanxi.

As the ship rumbled and came to a stop in some unknown space, she took a deep breath and prepared herself to make the best impression she could.

"First contact information away."

"Good, open a channel to the biggest ship." The comms officer did as asked and Erica began, "I am Commodore Erica Chavez, Citizen of the Terran Federation, Commander of the Shanxi Defense Fleet and Captain of the TFS FF-400 _John D. Sloat. _I am sorry our two species must meet like this, and more so for the loss of life in your own forces. I am sure you're wondering what you walked in on and I shall tell you, that was a slave raid by the bastard species known as the Skinnies. The people left on that planet are doomed to a lifetime of horror, this includes your people who were on board that ship that went down on that planet, and they will steal as much of your tech as they can from that downed ship, that is simply their way. I will not ask for your help in taking the planet back, it's your choice if you want revenge or not, but I will ask for a safe port for my ships until we can return home." With that she ended the message and sat back in the chair waiting for a response.

* * *

To be continued.

remember to check your PM to answers to your reviews


	4. Chapter 4 Book one (8-31-16)

Chapter 4

**TFS Vanker, Shanxi, April/22/2329 AD**

Commander Canus Albiraka, walked through the halls of his cruiser, inspecting the damage his ship had suffered. For the most part his vessel had come through the landing relatively unscathed, however a large section along the starboard side had been ripped open, 30 Turians had been injured and another ten were dead or missing. The wounded were being taken care of as best as they could but some of them were touch and go cases.

As for the hole in the hull, there was not much they could do, the crew were working hard trying to fortify it and the marines were deployed there heavily, but it was still a major weak point that the aliens could take advantage of if they infiltrated the perimeter.

Canus looked out the hole at the world he and his soldiers were standing on. It was a gorgeous garden world, from orbit he had seen only a few areas of civilization and now he saw why. Most if not all he could see was farmland for two crops that grew as stocks from the ground, one was a yellow flower that appeared inedible, the other grew some kinda seed laden bulb which he guessed was tasty enough if they were producing it in such numbers. He would have to get the ship's doctor to check it to see if it would be safe for them to consume.

Sighing he rested his hands on what was left of a railing, he already had the marines scout a two kilometer perimeter seeing if they could find anything of use and they had found the house of the farmers who owned the land a field away. It had been abandoned, the marines reported, but they also noted that as they entered the alarm rang, informing them that the occupants weren't home but it was lived in recently.

The evidence they found on the computer told them exactly what had happen. Apparently not long after he ran into the first Terran ship, a mobilization began along with a recall of all settlers to the major city named Shanxi City, named after the planet.

Several of his bridge crew came up behind him, most likely with the reports on how functional there ship was, "Yes?"

"Commander, the ship's going to be permanently grounded and most of her guns were ripped off in the landing. What few weapon we have left are useless for anything but triple A duty to us as they're either pointing toward the ground, or like the broadsides, pointed towards the sky." The gunnery officer reported.

"What about the emergency anti aircraft GARDIANs?"

"We're getting them up now but I doubt they will be able to put a dent in the aliens ships."

"I wouldn't be too sure, remember the Terran's do not have a defense to our weapons and the aliens seem to be of the same tech tree, double efforts to get them up, they might be the key in holding out. And make sure that the ground targeting protocols are in effect as well, if they decide to come at us with armor I want them cooking alive." He didn't let it seep in that they were counting on some force to intervene on their behalf. Instead he turned to his marine commander.

"Colonel Stradas how are your soldiers fairing?"

Vibius Stradas looked over the field, "My infantry are fortifying the ship and are setting up bunkers hidden in the field, we can give them one hell of a fight but we can always make it better. If we were to crack open the armory we can convert the unusable ammunition and explosives into mines, and if we look around hard enough I'm sure we can find some fertilizer, it's a farm after all. And if we are allowed to rescind the weapons limitations on mine warfare we can add in some extra surprises like rusty nails and anti coagulants. Some of my boys and girls are from Taetrus and Invictus, so they got alls sorts of experience with this stuff."

Albiraka had to think about it, only for a moment, "You have a go ahead Colonel, do what you must to hold back the ground forces. We will do what we can to keep the air clear."

Finally he turned to his sensor officer, "What can you tell us about the enemy ships?"

"Not much sir, there are a few ships poking around. The smaller scout boats I guess. They're circling a few kilometers out but nothing else. The bigger ships all seem to be in the direction of the Terran city, if I had to make a strategic evaluation they're going to hit the Terrans first then worry about us. Although to be honest sir I'm just glad we aren't breathing atomised metal from that battle in orbit. My meteorologist noncom says there will definitely be meteor showers and shooting stars for the next few nights."

"Hmm then let's hope the Terrans are able to hold the city long enough for reinforcements to arrive." Canus was about to try and give some inspiring speech when the communication officer turned the corner of the hallway at dead run and stopped before the assembled officers, "Sir! We've gotten communications open with the Terran Defenders."

"Well what did they say?"

"Beyond asking for you, they said, 'welcome to the Terran Federation, hope you enjoy a good fight because we got that here.'"

Commander Center, Shanxi, April/25/2329 AD

Brigadier General Alexander Williams stood looking over the holo map, watching the enemy ships land around the city. He stood there pondering previously established doctrines for fighting the enemy, ignoring the chaos of his staff organizing the forces. Williams had never faced the skinnies in combat before. He had read up on their tactics and weapons once or twice over the years but the last major fighting he had been a part of was the bug war. He had been sent to Shanxi specifically because it was nice and quiet.

He had led his forces to victory on several planets in the Hamia system during the Road to Victory campaign, and had held those planets after the crushing defeat at Klendathu, until his troops were recalled home.

He had been injured not to long before by a Rippler, leaving a scar running down the right side of his face, he didn't remember much of the retreat after that. When he finally returned to Federation space, he considered retiring like his wife from the military, but as he considered the idea he was offered an "easy assignment" as an award, a position on the other side of the Federation where there was no active enemy.

Of course it wasn't really an "award" so to say for a young ambitious officer, the Sky Marshal in charge of that front after the disaster that was Klendathu had been getting rid of the old guard who messed up that operation so new commanders who had been forged in the current bug war could rise. He had simply fallen through the cracks and been offered this command by mistake and happily enough accepted it and decided to ask for it to be a more or less permanent posting. Yeah it had probably saved his life and allowed him time to raise a family with his wife but he did wonder what would have happened if he continued to participate in the Bug War. At the very least this last battle on Shanxi would make a remarkable book end for his career.

If the records survived the invasion.

The Skinnie forces would most likely not bomb the city, they were here for slaves and the dead can't do much, even if their goal was to take the planet as they had originally proclaimed before getting their invasion force decimated while landing, they would still want slaves, it was their de facto strategy to raid until they had everything of value.

This meant that they would most likely keep pressing the attack, even when night fell. Most of his troopers had night vision equipment but that was only a part of the solution. They would keep hitting them until they were dead or his men were. He had deployed most of his light armor troopers along the wall and trenches he had constructed a few weeks back. His plan was a basic Russian style Defense in Depth.

He had 30 fighters at the local base being prepped for combat but it was hard to tell if they would be able to do anything against the ships if the Skinnies decided to use them against the defenses, thankfully they did have one thing that could keep the Skinnie ships far enough away. The destroyer _Jamestown_ was hanging low over the city ready to drive the enemy off, the destroyer had been designed to take on most Skinnie ships, she wouldn't be able take on the entire fleet but supported by the fighters and triple A fire from the city, she should be able to hold.

After thinking of the word Skinnie so many times, he was tempted to make a drinking game out of it with the troops, if they survived this. He could imagine the wonders it would do for morale at the medal ceremony if they got a shot each time the word was said in the official reports.

Finally he was keeping his power suits units and marauders as a mobile reserve, ready to move to any hot spots that pop up. He'd also taken the initiative to form up a makeshift emergency logistics company to support them. Thanks to his experience in the Bug War he knew the importance of keeping his soldiers well supplied, and if they were close to breaking it was likely they were low on ammo too.

"Sir we're receiving a response from the crashed alien ship."

"About time." Williams said with satisfaction, reaching over and picking up the radio, "This is Brigadier General Williams of the Terran Federation and commander of Shanxi Local Defense Army, I'm not sure what you did to piss them, off and I don't care, the enemy of my enemy is less likely to be my enemy seems to be reasonable in this situation. I'd like to personally welcome you to the Terran Federation, I sincerely hope you aren't the one pacifistic species we've met so far."

There was a pause for a moment then a voice said in pretty good English "I'm Commander Albiraka of the Turian Hierarchy, I accept your welcome on behalf of the Turian Hierarchy, we do not know what we did to anger the aliens you identify as thin, but we confirm your suspicion of not being enemy."

Williams smiled, "Great we already have a massive list of enemies as is." He didn't let that settle in before he continued, "I assume you've never run into the Skinnies before?"

There was a momentary pause, "No not before today. Not until you said their name."

"Alright well, I'd love to send you reinforcement, but I barely have enough soldiers to protect my own perimeter, so I'll give you the next best thing, intel. Here's a rundown on what you will be facing so you won't be in the dark as to the enemy's capabilities. Most likely they won't send in their heavies unless you cause a problem, so for now you will likely see raiding parties wielding basic projectile weapons and maybe Constrictors which you need to be careful of, they spay a blue goop that tightens and hardens, used for capturing normally, but if you get hit in the face or more than one dose your just as dead as the projectile weapons. If you make yourself a problem they might send power suit troopers and energy weapons."

"They have hand held energy weapons?" The alien sounded shocked.

"From what I know they do, though the weapons are rare and have poor effective range if you're armored."

"Alright is there anything else we should know?"

Williams thought about it and added, "Yeah, don't bother taking prisoners. They will only cause trouble. Or a mess."

"… Alright… General Williams, I hope will talk in person on friendlier terms when this is over. Maybe share a bottle."

"Same here Commander, see you on the other side." Williams hung up the radio as the doors to the command center opened, and several troopers led in a Morita company' mercenary captain, "Ah Captain Harper I was wondering when you would get here."

The mercenary captain looked uncomfortable, "Well I really didn't have anywhere else to go."

"True... Captain Harper you served in the south against the Skinnies before you retired from the MI, am I correct?"

"Yes sir, I'm familiar with the Skinnies tactics, though I never thought I'd see one of those ugly bastards again. What do you need General?"

General Williams took a moment to formulate a proper explanation, "It hasn't gotten out yet, but there's a downed alien ship about 12 miles south of the city, these aliens, known as Turians apparently, have no experience with skinnies other than what they learned in the last few hours. I need you to gather some of your mercenaries and sneak out of the city and provide support and advice to them."

"Sounds like a suicide mission to me." Harper replied distastefully.

"I can get you a 3 month re enlistment papers as well as a promotion to Major, which if memory serves me right Morita Company pays a higher wage and gives more benefits the higher your rank in the military was." That set the merc pondering how much his life was worth, "Putting you back to active duty would benefit us both and no one really retires from the Mobile Infantry now do they?"

The Mercenary thought about what he said then saluted, "Its a cold day in hell, and shit for the devil when that happens sir! Reporting for duty!"

* * *

**THS**_** Hierarchy's Fist**_**, Relay 314 system, 2657GS April/24/2329 AD**

Commodore Erica Chavez sat in a shuttle seat trying to remain calm and clear headed. After she had explained the situation in basic terms to the Turian Admiral, he requested that she head over to his ship to discuss the issue at length.

Personally she wished to get under way to their nearest colony planet so she could speak to their leaders and get help to Shanxi fast, but beggars can't be choosers so she had agreed. After that she had went back to quarters and dressed in her power suit in case the Turian environment was... unfriendly to humans, and then put her dress uniform on so she looked properly dignified.

She had ordered a shuttle readied. Now she waited for the shuttle to dock with the Turian's battleship with a couple Fleet Engineers and marines as guards to escort her on this trip and provide assistance.

The squad of engineers and marines across from her wore navy blue power suits and unlike the Mobile Infantry's own, it didn't have the jumpjet modules, armed with Morita 201-C "Boy Toy" Carbines and a single Morita 202-AS Assault Shotgun in case of combat. There were only five of them though she would have preferred more.

"Captain we will be landing in a few seconds." Erica gave an affirmation and looked to the engineers, "Alright, best behaviour and if any of you make a xenophobic comment I will not stop them from kicking your ass. We need their help to save Shanxi." She didn't care that several of the Engineers looked annoyed by her comment, there was too much depending on the negotiation to leave things to chance.

Once the boat landed, Erica stood up and straightened out her coat before she walked over to the door. The Engineers were waiting for her, guns shouldered on their backs to show there were armed but not there for a fight.

The Turians were… armored, they didn't just wear armor, which they did, and looked as tough as a power suit or more so, but their skin looked like some form of armored chitin, or natural metallic plates, a disconcerting idea to say the least. There was an honor guard of Turians standing at attention across from her with another Turian standing in front of them.

They were not the ugliest species Erica had seen, though that award still went to the fourth, but they diffidently were in the running. Two engineers marched forward and stationed themselves on both sides of the open door allowing Erica to step toward the Turian near the center who she assumed was the welcoming committee and stood at attention, "I am Commodore Erica Chavez of the Terran Federation, take me to your commanding officer."

* * *

**THS Hierarchy's Fist, Relay 314 system, 2657GS April/24/2329 AD**

Admiral Varlikam looked over the humans rather unimpressed, like he had seen before the humans looked like Asari, though with fur on their head and different genders. The armor they wore looked rather unimpressive and very utilitarian, and he couldn't tell much about their guns. But considering how early in their development they likely were he doubted it was much of a threat. He hoped.

The human who'd been led to him looked even more like an Asari then the rest so he figured it was a female of their species, mammal likely, due to her breasts, and very fine hair across her visible body. He made a Turian salute and she replied in kind with her own, before they shook hands. Judging from how she used her right hand first before switching to his left, and observing the weapons her guard used, he decided it was probable that their species was a majority right handed.

"I am, Admiral Albirus Varlikam of the Turian Hierarchy, there is no need for the helmets, our races breath a similar enough mix atmosphere you won't get oxygen poisoning or anything like that."

Erica appeared to consider this before pushing a button on the side of the helmet and lifting it off, "You can never be too sure, the one time we don't bring our helmet it turns out they breath nitrogen or something." Varlikam was very much thankful of the First Contact Package they were given, it had included a format to a basic language, and had sped the translator process up substantially.

Varlikam nodded, "We have a similar track record, though we have met several species that rely on a different atmosphere."

"Let me guess they then declared holy war upon you for being different?" the Human commander said without an ounce of humor.

"Ah…. no, one became the bankers and another religious followers in our space," Varlikam said taking note of her assumption things went bad, "But that is a discussion for later, not something we met to discuss right now, I have a conference room waiting for us and two superior officers wanting to meet you, so please follow me." Indicating the direction which they were supposed to go, he lingered from turning his back on her for a moment, before she nodded that it was acceptable in her culture, or he assumed so, and began to lead the group, "Oh and your soldiers will be lead to the mess, we happen to have some Levo amino acid rations they can have."

The marine on guard opened the door for Varlikam and the Terran commander to enter the flag officers conference room, "It will take a moment for them to make a secure connection, so take a seat." He indicated the chair across from him while he took the other.

"I thought you said they were waiting for us?" The Terran asked, keeping the confusion out of her voice as she sat in the surprisingly comfortable chair. She noted it was different than the Admiral's who's looked better suited to his physiology.

"I did but it takes a while to establish a secure communications with the FTL buoy." He replied patiently.

"Ah so we're not that far from one of your worlds I assume." Varlikam looked over the Terran.

"No, we are not," He mentioned off handedly, purposefully vague.

The Terran sat up a little straighter, "Instantaneous communication?"

Varlikam did the Turian equivalent of a smile, "Your species has yet to discover that ability of the Relays? How long have you known about them?"

"I've only know about them for about a week and we haven't seen any new public technology leaps or extended colonization for a while. So yeah not long apparently, otherwise we would be ripping it apart to find out how we can do that."

Varlikam nodded making an assumption, "So then may I assume that Shanxi is one of your first colonized worlds?"

"Not even in the first 30." She said mysteriously.

Varlikam was about to ask more when two holographic projections appeared before him, causing him to rise to his feet and salute. Primarch Fedorian and Councilor Gratlienus both looked displeased.

Councilor Gratlienus spoke first, "Admiral Varlikam would you care to explain what's happened during your mission to the Terran world? I can't help but feel you managed to start a war over there." His voice was cold and angry, not a good sign.

"I will answer your questions as best I can but I'm afraid I do not know what prompted the aliens to attack us." Varlikam maintained an even tone. He quickly gave the debrief and report of what occured, at the end of which Gratlienus' anger was replaced with thoughtfulness, "Well at least we don't seem to be facing a threat that will entirely upset the balance currently." He said just like a politician, "Assisting a species that has just taken it first steps into our galactic community from a more hostile aggressor should allow us to maintain peace." He turned to the Primarch, "Fedorian you should have informed me of this operation and the event which lead to it before this. Fedorian I will leave the operation up to you but I want this Terran planet retaken, to help our newfound friends."

Fedorian nodded, "I'll call up the 1st Quick Reactionary Force and prepare a strategy with Palaven Command." He turned to Varlikam and Chaves, "The 1st QRF should be arriving in three days, in that time Admiral I want as as much information about our enemy. If you would not mind divulging this information Commodore, of course."

"Yes sir."

"If you'll help Shanxi I'll give you the entire combat manual on them." Commodore Chaves replied diplomatically.

Councilor Gratlienus turned to Chaves, "Before we begin I must apologize for the loss of your first ship and we will return the serving crew as soon as possible. Along with any salvage you ask for." Chaves looked confused, and suddenly upset, if Varlikam could judge, he didn't have enough time to inform her of the first ship.

"The _Ragnar_... what happen to her?"

Councilor Gratlienus looked at Varlikam with annoyance, "Your ship was accidently destroyed in a misunderstanding when it met one of our patrols. We aren't sure what happened just yet, we need to talk with the crew some more, but we're willing to pay any reparations to the families and your government for the loss. We're the peace keepers after all, such an incident should have never happened in the first place, no matter who's to blame."

The Admiral was not sure what he had expected from the new culture, maybe sadness or anger, political saber rattling at worst, "ugh… Well at least it a was just a single ship this time, and you said the Crew got into escape craft?" She said only slightly annoyed it appeared, "I'd call this first contact a resounding success in my book! Some of my crew survived, AND I didn't lose my entire battlegroup or have to nuke a planet."

The room was silent for a moment before the Councilor inquired, "How many other species have you encountered so far?" He asked, astonished.

Erica shrugged nonchalantly, "Officially five major first contacts disasters. Unofficially there could be dozens more, I haven't heard of them but if they weren't mentioned then they aren't a threat to the Federation or the politicos decided to not get involved in that area of space or just nuked them off. It's very well possible that a first contact with a minor race could be covered up, forgotten about, or we just ignored them. We don't go looking for more problems right now. Maybe after killing off the Bugs, and pacifying the Skinnies we'll go expand a bit more, but for now we have enough powerful enemies as is."

"You encountered five species though the relay network already?!" The Councilor sounded surprised, and Varlikam could see why, the Terran were so technologically jumbled up.

"What? No! No, no, we just found a relay last year, IF THAT. For all I know we could have found them a dozen times over and we just ignored them as asteroids or something." Erica replied, looking at their reactions closely.

"Are you saying that in a single year you managed to have five first contact go bad? At the same relay?" Councilor Gratlienus said, looking confused and now very suddenly worried, judging from how casually she said her species threw around nukes.

"I'm telling you we have had five first contacts and have just found the relays, making you the first peaceful one afterwards. These are definately separate events since we have have been colonizing and travailing the stars for the last 113 years. A bit more if you count the 20th century Space Race to get to our local moon." Erica replied smoothly.

"..." Councilor Gratlienus seem to be at a loss for words and Varlikam was in the same boat. no species had come up with another faster than light travel method, not even the Salarians and yet the Terrans had just said they had and used this method long enough that the comment of Shanxi being nothing really noteworthy to have great credence.

He didn't know what Councilor Gratlienus was thinking but he knew he wanted an alliance with the Terrans if only to get his hands on their tech, "I need to consult with the other Councilors." Gratlienus finally ended, "Admiral please offer the Terrans all services we can provide, especially if any of her ships need repairs. It is an honor to meet a new and technologically interesting species such as yours Commodore Chavez, I would like to speak more about your species and culture in the future."

Chavez nodded, smiling pleasantly, "Of course Councilor, I would love to discuss the various Terran Cultures and our governmental system. As long as you share about yourself."

"Of course of course, good bye." With that said the projections turned off, and left the two ship captains alone.

Varlikam wasn't sure how exactly to break the ice so he looked over and asked the first question that came to mind, "So what was your worst first encounter?"

Chavez looked at him and sighed, "Oh yeah that one, it's like they came from a japanese cartoon…"

* * *

**Shanxi, Northern defense line, April/24/2329 AD**

Sergeant Major Erich Hannawald flipped his coin "heads" he muttered only to sigh as it landed as he had called it. He looked down the trench, they were on the northern wall, though really only the west and east had walls, the north was almost an open flank and if not for the trench works. Annoyed he ordered, "Jonnie could you turn that shit down."

Private Jonnie sat across from him listening to some old rock and roll music loudly, "Come on Sarge I'm just trying to psych myself up for the fight." He complained.

"And your damn music is too loud, I can't hear anything else." Erich snapped, as he flipped his coin again, "heads" he caught it mid air and checked.

"Tails…" getting a bad feeling he got up and moved to the trench wall, "turn it down." his voice brooked no argument or debate, it was deathly serious.

The Private, suitably spooked by the suddenly very serious manner in his NCO, turned it off entirely, feeling his ears ringing from the previously loud noise and looking intently before him, his head barely over the lip of the trench.

Erich looked out over the darkened field, the skinnies were deployed inside the tree line about a quarter mile from his position. Early in the day there had been activity with lots of raider and hovercrafts moving into position, now they were just waiting. What for was the question, and he was worried what that could be.

Normal doctrine would have had such an obvious move bombed with artillery, but they had a lack of big guns at the moment with no hope of resupply for ammunition, so only destruction on call targets were allowed.

In a moment, he decided to get a better look at the situation, reaching down he picked up his night vision Snoopers. It was cheap model that he'd brought from a surplus store after he lost his last one a few years ago, but they did the job. His boys called it his lucky charm, cheap and inexpensive, just like himself and his men.

Bringing them to his eyes, he focused on trying to see the enemy, but a sudden flash of light and he fell from the lip of the trench and impacted his head against the wall.

He didn't know how long he laid on the ground in a daze, but when he regained his senses he heard the sound of screaming, gunfire, and explosions.

Staggering to his feet, he lifted the Morita 203-HMG "Punisher" Gatling Gun into position as two Heavy Speeders sailed over the trench above him. Three raiders jumped from the craft into the trench. He didn't waste a moment, as training took over, he fell to a prone position, aimed down the barrel, and held the trigger, shredding two of the raiders with its 5mm HE tipped rounds.

The last one aimed his Boneshard Rifle fired down the slit trench, but missed as Erich dove behind an ammo crate, leaving behind the heavy weapon.

"Shit shit shit!" He muttered as he checked himself and found only his sidearm right now, as more enemy fire smashed into his cover.

In return, he raised his pistol and blind fired over the edge burning through a few bursts. He didn't hear any screaming, which meant that the enemy was still alive. But thanks to Trenches being narrow and him not being an idiot, the guy was at least hiding behind cover.

With a quick motion he unhooked a grenade, and rolled it along the trench with a good throw without priming it. The skinnie reacting on instinct, and tried to get to another piece of cover farther back, Sticking his head and pistol just barely over the crate he shot the bastard in the back.

He stood up to have a look at the rest of the trench, which was just in time to see the fight ending. Disheartening in his mind was the fact that only six troopers were left standing in visible range from where he stood in the trench, "Fucking hell." He muttered, as his eyes noticed that there were more Terran bodies than Skinnies in the trench. But further back he saw many of the vehicles that had passed him destroyed or wrecked by the main line of the trench system, "Someone radio command that the enemy snuck past a raiding force into the north side of the city."

"More incoming! WE GOT A SECOND WAVE! Get to your posts! RUN!" Suddenly it was chaos as the infantry made to make a mass attack on the weakened Terran forward tench. Machine guns and mortars fired out onto the Skinnie charge, while they countered with armored vehicles and gun fire.

* * *

**Shanxi, Northern City Districts, April/24/2329 AD**

Raider Sergeant V'Lith kicked the Terran in the gut as his raiders banged on the double doors of the bomb shelter, "Tell me the means to enter Terran and I will not harm you further." The Terran spit on V'Lith's boot and replied.

"Go fuck yourself you ugly mothers fuckers." V'Lith sighed and kicked the alien again.

"You Terran never know when to give up, you've been defeated, the time of fighting is over, just accept your fate and you won't be killed."

The Terran spit on him again and started a foolish speech that he'd heard dozens of times by now, but now V'lith didn't care anymore, the time of been nice was over. "You two get him up and secure this fool to the door." The raiders he indicated picked the Terran up to the wall and used their constrictor pistols to make the alien stay up in a T.

V'Lith moved over to the heavy speeder that was being moved in front of the double doors so they could fire its mass driver at the door, picking up his Phase Beamer, a small pistol like weapon, along the way. He walked over to the secured Terran soldier, "Tell me the code to enter the shelter or I will shoot it open with."

"Fuck you! You couldn't intimidate a school girl!"

V'Lith fired at the Terran's right arm, the door behind the Terran was painted red with the gore that had been the soft tissue of the Terrans arm all that was left was the bone. The Terran was screaming in pain from the wound, a couple of his raiders held the man up, while another used a constrictor pistol to seal the wound.

"Tell me the code Terran, I won't ask again!"

Terran muttered in agony, "Star 69!" V'Lith nodded one of his raider tried the code, which failed.

"You shouldn't have lied to me Terran." He said raising the pistol to shoot his other arm, a frag grenade landed behind him in the second seat of the heavy speeder. Exploding chaos ensued as the raiders tried to turn and fire out the doorway of the building the bomb shelter was hidden in after, a few seconds of firing, the enemy did not appear.

"Where are they?" V'Lith whispered, signaling his raiders to spread out and guard the windows. He was about to move away from where he stood when a wall was ripped out of place by a large bipedal war mech commonly referred to by the Terrans as a M-8 ape.

Before V'Lith could get a shot off, the wall behind him opposite the M-8 Ape exploded outwards, and two Terrans in back power suits rushed in, one tackling V'Lith to the ground and put a Brunham TW-109-E "Emancipator" Heavy Pistol to his head, "PUT your weapons down or I blow your bosses brains out with all of you following suit!" The Terran yelled as the other Terran with the white and red marks of a medic punched a raider in the face that was between him and the injured Terran they had been interrogating and the Marauder revving its weapons menacingly.

The Skinnies by the windows laughed and aimed their weapons at the Terrans, their environmental suits were not as good as a Terran power suit in terms of protection, but the numbers were in their favor. V'Lith smiled, "Terran, you're a fool, if you shoot me one of their number will take my place in a moment and you and your friend would still die, your marauder would soon follow." He explained this with joy knowing that these Terran must be fools to believe more of his raiding party wouldn't come.

The Terran's face was obscured by a fold down visor that usually was kept up, but the lower portion of the face was visible with a smile as he looked about the room, "You might have a point, but capturing you alive was never my plan."

V'Lith, confused by this, looked at the Terran's shoulder and saw they had a single gold bar upon their shoulder, his mind began to work, 'that wasn't right there should be at least 16 troopers with this Terran if they were an officer' "Where the rest of your men!?"

On that a resounding series of bangs happened, bullets coming through the walls and windows to slay his men from all angles. In an instant the raiders fell to the ground dead, and the Terran took their pistol away from V'Lith's head. "They're in sniper positions around this building. I was hoping you'd ask that question, it was their cue. Now you'll make a fine trophy for interrogation back at HQ."

V'Lith's eyes narrowed in rage, "A bit theatrical for a Terran aren't you?"

The Terran simply smiled, "Just because I kill for my country doesn't mean I dan't take pride in my work, now let me see that pistol, I've been meaning to pick up a war trophy from a Skinnie!" The Terran put their pistol barrel to V'Lith's arm holding the phase beamer. "Now drop it or I will Dis-Arm you."

* * *

**Shanxi, south east of the city, sewers April/24/2329 AD**

"God damn this stinks." One of the mercs, Adams, complained as they moved along the edge of the black river, with a slimy grimy railing the only protection between them and a shit river.

"Yes, yes it does, but it's the safest way out of the city." Another merc, Ulrich, said as he followed the path carefully carrying the one of the two collapsible Zodiac boats the group had.

"I'd rather take my chances -"

"No you wouldn't." Jack Harper interrupted as he led the way, "This is the fastest and most efficient route to the crash site. Any other way would have us going straight through the Skinnie lines, and we can't carry enough ammo to slip out unscathed." He pointed out, "This way we get past all of that, then we can ride the river to within a mile of the target." He said as he stepped down on something he would rather not think about and nearly slipped into the foul river.

"Got'cha." Ben Hislop said as he grabbed a strap on Jacks armor and pulled him back from brink and slipping over the slimy railing.

"Thanks." Jack said before he continued on down the path. Jack wanted to get out of the sewers ASAP, while they were down there they had no idea what was happening on the surface. Yes the rumbling from explosions above them did tell him the battle was on, but it did not tell him who was winning, and that was the most important thing to him.

Sighing Jack led the group though the dark dank tunnel, careful enough to watch his step and hoping this trip was not for nothing.

* * *

to be continued.

* * *

Terran Federation Codex Issue 1:Teran Small Arms

**TW-109-E Emancipator Heavy Pistol****: **Used by SICON agents and Light Armoured Mobile Infantry, these powerful, but under ranged weapons are very concealable and effective on the right target. They are powerful, but with a small amount of bullets in a clip, (only 12 shots) these weapons are the life-savers of SICON against smaller bugs like Control Bugs and base line warriors.

Units produced: ~100,000,000,000 (100 Billion)

Morita 201-C Carbine Rifle "Boy Toy": The carbine version of the Morita 201-A Assault Rifle "Ape MAker", was created in the planning phase in response to the obvious matter of weapon weight. Coming at nearly a full 7 kilos lighter, at a cost to ammunition capacity, reliability, and modability, the weapon is issued on request, and generally to the Fleet. Despite its lack of clip capacity and its inability to attach underslung weaponry, its popularity with recruits rivals that of the standard issue.

Units produced: ~75,000,000,000 (75 Billion)

Morita 403-HMG "Punisher" Gatling Gun: 5mm HE tipped rounds, firing 10,000 rounds a minute, the 403-HMG Gatling has proven the term "More dakka is best dakka". Nicknamed the Punisher, it has seen more use in the marauder corp then the standard infantry division. Cheap, effective, and loud, its success has however been limited due to lack of enemies recently.

Units produced: ~10,000,000,000 (10 Billion)


	5. Chapter 5 Book one (9-8-16)

Chapter 5

Edited by a person of many names Blood Raven AKA TimedRaven117. Go check out his story Mass Effect: X-Com Theory!

**THS **_**Hierarchy's Fist**_**, Relay 314 system, 2657GS April/23/2329 AD**

"So let me get this straight, a couple thousand years ago, the original members of the Citadel Council came across a species known as the Rachni. This species was a highly advanced, hive minded, insect like creature that was extremely hostile to outsiders. Unable to open negotiations, the Salarians were forced to uplift a minor species known as the Krogan, who by their very evolution are the perfect warrior. Then they unleashed the Krogan and were able to exterminate the Rachni." Erica Chavez was still trying to process the good fortune she must have to come across this discovery, not only had these aliens faced something that sounded close to the arachnid empire, but had a way to defeat it soundly. "By any chance are the Krogan still around?" She asked trying to keep in the preemptive joy she was feeling silent.

The Turian Admiral, Albirus Varlikam, seemed uncomfortable as he replied, "Yes."

"I am getting the feeling there's a but." Erica said looking expectantly at the Turian.

Still looking uneasy, Varlikam nodded and continued, "Well after the victory, the Council realized that uplifting the Krogan was a... bad idea, they were too violent and expansionary, they didn't receive the needed time as a species to evolve culturally to a stable platform. They tried to resolve things peacefully but that ended with the Krogan Rebellion. During this period they discovered my species and through our military expertise and the use of a biological weapon called the genophage we were able to end the rebellion. Although, I must admit, the Krogan very nearly won anyways. The conflict lasted three centuries."

Erica slumped into her chair stunned by this revelation of how foolish this Citadel Council was, yes there was no way for them to have known about the arachnid empire, but the galaxy is massive and she doubted they couldn't have accommodated a few new colonies. She stopped that line of thought and tried to put her own bias out of her head. Then she considered the source, they had their own bias and the Krogan Rebellion had catapulted Turian's into a high position within this Citadel Council. Once put in that perspective she was lucky to have gotten any info on the Krogan Rebellion at all. Hopefully someone would be able to do some proper research and find out what happen once things settled down on this front. After that line of thought, all she could think to say was, "So whatever's gonna happen if you run into more Rachni like creatures or possibly worse?"

The Turian looked at her with a look that implied such a thing was impossible as he gave what the Commodore interpreted as a shrug, "I very much doubt we can find something worse than the Rachni."

Something about the arrogance of that statement set Erica off, she let out a dark giggle and stood up from her chair, "You don't think you could find something like the Rachni?" She proceeded to pull off her military gray jacket, "And you don't think anything could be worse?" The Turian looked at her oddly as she disengaged the upper part of her power suit and pulled it off revealing her shoulders and both her right normal arm and her prosthetic left, "The Terran Federation is currently engaged in an ongoing war with the arachnid empire." She disengaged her left arm and put it down on the table to make it clear it was not part of her. Varlikam stared at the arm in alarm as Erica continued, "They are an insect like species, bent on conquest, with a hive mind. Among their abilities we know for certain; they can change their genetic structure within a couple generations, They're able to survive the vacuum of space, giving them the ability to colonize airless asteroids and moons, and they can do all this without building any technology. They can in fact grow their own living ships capable of faster than light travel."

Varlikam was now looking at her with a mix of horror and interest, "Admiral I lost my arm seven years ago in the first Klendathu invasion, there were things on that planet capable of turning the best military operation we could put together into the worst massacre in Terran history, and the Arachnid empire spans what we believe to be hundreds of planets at least. so yes there are things much worse than the Rachni out there."

* * *

**Shanxi, northern part of the city, central avenue April/24/2329 AD**

Sergeant Major Erich Hannawald crawled through the remnants of an apartment complex, incoming fire from the skinnie forces peppering the building. The north front was fucked, well all the fronts were fucked but they were holding out a lot better than the north. The skinnies had sent in 3 waves of raiders and Speeder Chariots, and though they had held them back on the first two, what was left of his light infantry had been forced to pull back into the city where the power suit medium infantry had manned the secondary trench line behind the first city district in a large city park. From what he had heard the other fronts had only been hit by one wave, probably sent to pin them down while the skinnies hammered the north.

Things were bad enough as is but with the skinnies now facing power suits, they had decided they would send in the next wave, and these weren't more raiders.

As Erich got up and ran past an open door, several yellow lasers hit right above him and scorched the wall. Those beams had been fired from a Heavy Laser, the skinnie version of a light machine gun, a popular weapon with skinnie soldiers. Staying low Erich popped his head and fired a couple shots at the gold armored skinnies, managing to graze one before he ducked back down. The skinnie soldiers actually had power suit themselves which meant that shot probably did very little, if nothing at all.

Sighing in discontent Erich checked his ammo count and then looked around. As far as he could see, most of the other troopers near his position were dead, and as far as he knew most of the other troopers in this building were dead too. He was either going to have to fall back to a building behind him and hope he could reconnect with friendly's there or try and get nextdoor where power suit troopers were supposedly holding the line.

"Fuck it." Pulling out his Lucky coin and flipped it, letting fate decide his luck. He reached out to catch the coin and, it slipped through his fingers landing between two pieces of rubble on its side.

"What's that supposed to mean!?" He demanded in irritation, before he reached down for the coin.

As he leaned down to retrieve the coin the wall behind him exploded inward.

Erich was sent flying across the room, hitting his side against the wall, possibly breaking a rib judging by the pain he felt. Turning himself over so he could face the enemy, he saw a skinnie, a Venerable Marauder or what troopers like him called, a stilt walker, armed with a heavy laser and a Mass Driver, the machine looked like a tall metal skinnie with an open cockpit. The mechanized suit was controlled by the respective limb of the occupant, who himself was very exposed to small arms fire, if it weren't for the two large armored plates that acted as as shield. The things formidable weapons were located where the head would be situated on a skinnie. The skinnie operating the machine seemed to be smiling as he aimed the mass driver at Erich.

But before he could do anything, a grey M8 Ape used its jump jets to land on the Skinnie stilt walker, and forced it to the ground. The Ape operator triggered the IW-303-A Morita Ape Special in the right arm, unloading the dual machine gun into the open cockpit of the downed Skinnie warmech.

The M8 then triggered its MW-209 Trip Hammer Mortar blasting a group of Skinnie soldiers advancing on their position, as two more M8s jumped in on either side of the first one.

The trio then began to advance, dispensing death as they went. Staggering to his feet, Erich went and picked up his rifle and his lucky coin before moving over to the hole in the wall, taking a knee he began to take shots at the enemy trying to cover the walking tanks as they advanced.

* * *

**Citadel Space, Citadel, Citadel Tower 2657GS April/24/2329 AD**

Councilor Tevos walked up the stairs, to the back room behind the podiums where the council would discuss things privately. The meeting had been called by Gallius Gratlienus, and thus was very unusual. Tevos been on the council a long time and most Turians did not call meetings. It was usually her or the Salarian representative who called a meeting, and the listing as an emergency sparked her interest. Taking the last few steps she came to the meeting room and entered.

The meeting room had been decorated in some finery over the years, mainly marble tiling on the floor, a finely decorated ruby madera wood table from a jungle planet in the Asari Republics, with matching cushioned seats. It was a nice enough room to discuss in and completely bug proof.

Gallius was already inside, sitting at the table going over something on his omni tool, but when he saw Tevos enter he closed whatever he was looking quickly.

"Hello Councilor Gallius." Tevos greeted the old Turian with a smile as she moved over to take her seat at the table.

"Good morning Councilor Tevos." He responded with a Turians smile, his mandibles flaring outward, a bit.

Taking that to mean nothing good was afoot Tevos asked with a touch of concern, "Is something the matter?"

"Yes and no," He stated mysteriously, "There has been a small incident on the border of Citadel territory that has grown into something… bigger. And now requires a full meeting of the council."

"Would this small incident have to do with Relay 314?" Councilor Cenike of the Salarian Union interjected as he stepped into the room.

To his credit Gallius did not seem surprised, and Tevos knew why, the STG were really good coming across information. Sighing, Gratlienus asked, "How much do you know?" He sighed in a tired tone.

Cenike took his seat at the table and straightened his hooded robe. "I know that a patrol was scheduled to go by the area and only half the ships came back, and I know that yesterday a strike force sized force went back to the relay. As far as I know, they have yet to return. So what happened at the Relay? Another Rachni War?" He spoke quickly like most of his species, yet seemed disinterested in the conversation.

"It's not that bad..." Gratlienus said with a reassuring look, before he moved to his explanation. "During relay patrol 300-350, the flotilla commander found an unknown ship trying to activate a relay, as citadel law dictates he tried to stop the ship. The ship now identified as the _Ragnar Lodbrok_ fired an energy weapon and disabled one of his ships. Feeling threatened the commander responded in kind and during the fight another ship was lost and the _Ragnar_ self destructed."

"Are you sure this is not as bad as the Rachni?" Cenike interrupted now sitting forward in his seat, looking at Gratlienus. "If I am understanding you correctly, you have found new species in the stars, with weapons we have yet to master, are hostile, and now they have an excuse for war, now that we have destroyed one of their ships for a law they aren't bound to. Even if we can talk to them this is a political nightmare."

Gallius nodded indicating he saw Cenike's point and countered, "We have since spoken with a member of their species who has claimed they have had their own bad first contact experiences, so though we will likely never know what caused the _Ragnar_ to fire, we can surmise it was fear, not hostility."

He waited a moment to see if anyone else had any comment, and when there was none he continued, "Since we found no traces of element zero in the debris the patrol captain brought back, Primarch Fedorian assumed that the race was new to the Relay system and sent a small fleet through the relay to make first contact on are terms, and kowtow any more hostile actions."

"Let me guess they fired on the fleet and you want to ask for the citadel full support in subjugating this menace before it gets out of hand." Cenike confidently stated, sitting back in his seat looking like he cracked some awe inspiring code.

Tevos had remained silent, but it seemed it was coming close to her diplomatic territory "Did you even get the chance to try diplomacy first, or did they just shoot at you because you took a big fleet?"

Gallius smiled as if there was some joke he knew they did not. "They did not fire at our fleet, in fact they asked for our help." He let that seep in, smiling as Tevos and Cenike squirmed in their seats.

"Would you like me to tell you the full story, or would you like to continue to assume that Turians can't be tactful." Tevos stayed quiet out of embarrassment and she assumed Cenike did the same, "The fleet arrived in the middle of a battle between the first species which we have identified as the Terrans and another species they have identified as the '_Skinnies_'. The commander in the field used his best judgment and tried to stop the fighting through negotiation. However the Skinnies turned and fired on us immediately and since our Fleet was outnumbered four to one, they were forced to retreat through the relay bringing what was left of the Terran fleet. They have asked for aid in retaking the planet on the other side of the relay, and since one of our ships was shot down on that planet I am willing to send an attack force to rescue those Turians and prevent the 'Skinnies' from getting our tech."

Now that Gallius was finished, Tevos tried the peaceful route again, "Can we negotiate with them, is it a possibility?"

Gallius shook his head, "From what I have learned the Skinnies are technologically advanced, but not centralized. Not even remotely. If we did make a deal they would only honor it until they saw our back turned, or work through intermediaries like the Batarians, and that's not even factoring in that there is no guarantee that the next group of Skinnies we meet would honor the agreement. Besides, we don't need to make a full war out of this. The Terran can fight them off on their own, but our forces are a lot closer, we can have ships and soldiers deployed there in a couple days, they can only have ships and soldiers deployed there in a couple weeks. In that time the planet would be stripped for the Skinnie slave trade and the tech including our ship will be looted."

Cenike looked like he was thinking deeply his brow furrowed before he decided, "All we need to do is help them reclaim the planet? It might be worth it to help them take this planet back." Tevos was shocked and was about to interrupt, but Cenike continued quickly. "If we help them it will put on a good footing with these Terran, enough so they may share their tech, if not it will definitely open up trade and that will allow the STGs to fill that lack of tech sharing over time."

Tevos thought it over and with an exasperated sigh, "At least give the Skinnies as the Terrans call them one more chance at peaceful solution."

* * *

**TFS Vanker, Shanxi, 2657GS, April/24/2329 AD**

Colonel Vibius Stradas watched the crop field though his night vision binoculars, looking for any disturbances in the way the field swayed in the wind. He was standing behind the front line toward the center, on an observation platform that had been taken from one of the Vanker's cargo holds. From this position he had a good view of the field to the north. Everything seemed fine so he looked north wondering how their improto allies were doing. There hadn't been any communications from the Terrans since they had been "welcomed", but they had been able to pick a local radio station that was… interesting to say the least.

The last report he had heard was extremely weird without context, "These Skinnie ass bastards won't break our citizen soldiers! They may have surprised the northern districts and made our boys in grey pull back from the outer trench, but my sources say our forces have already begun a counter attack! It's only a matter of time until The General activates the Atomic Protocol and our boys get to blast these invaders into dust and ash!" It was hard to tell if it was purely propaganda or actually had a grain of truth in it, due to the way it was presented. Although from the energy of the announcer he could power a starship.

Vibius was about to check his radio again when he noticed something off about the movement in the field. It was slow, but a few stocks moved the wrong way. He tapped his omni tool once, activating the possible contact silent alarm. Bringing his binoculars to focus on the disturbance, he decided to switch it to thermal. The disturbance lit up like a neon light at night. From how bright it was he guessed it had to be at least 150-200 degrees hot. The being was very tall, going on 8'8, it was lean and wearing some kind of full armor suit. Surprised he zoomed the binoculars back and saw that there were more of them than he realized, slowly moving toward the forward line of explosives traps.

Before the enemy reached the traps Vibius sent out commands via his omni tool alerting the soldiers under his command to the approaching enemy. Though he saw two messages come in just as his went out, his watch Captain confirming his sighting. Picking up his binoculars again he saw the group of "skinnies" reach the mines. There were eighteen of them and though they moved carefully and with a pace that suggested some amount of military training they seemed to not suspect a trap.

However just before the lead skinnie set the bomb off, the one in the back of the column seemed to spot something amiss and pulled two of his buddies back. Most of the the skinnie squad was wiped out, but the three in back survived and quickly tried to flee.

Shooting someone in the the back was not the most honorable thing, however they could not risk that group warning any others about the mines. He quickly ordered them taken out and snipers hidden along the line did their duty, two of them dropping dead. The third was hit in the shoulder and fell to the ground. He laid, unable to drag himself away.

"RF1, move forward and retrieve the survivor." Vibius ordered, maybe they could get some answers out of the skinnie, or at least learn something about them other then that they were hostile.

* * *

**Skinnie Tribal transport on Shanxi 2657GS, April/25/2329 AD**

Lord Tel'Rock,Master of the Kingdom of Lockhet, and council elected commander of the Ptolemaic Hegemony invasion of this planet, watched the yellow sun rise. He adjusted his suit setting since he would not need it to be as warm once the sun was high in the sky, he then picked up his favored sword and walked over to his assembled Lieutenants for today's briefing. Looking over his four officers, he was pleased to see they seemed in good spirits.

Colonel Lo'Ho, Leader of Raiders, his mandible tusks were spread wide in a smile, the gold patterns shining on his matt green suit as he spoke to Colonel Mar'rack, Leader of Soldiers. His golden armor gleaming, Mar'rack held his helmet under his arm, a green cape with gold designs draping his shoulders to his ankles. He was smiling as well as he described some long ago battle Tel'Rock did not remember.

These two had served Tel'Rock ever since he had taken control of Lockhet from the previous regime five years earlier. Lo'Ho was the younger of the two and had pledged his loyalty to Tel'Rock before he dethroned the last lord, and had since then led many raids into Terran territory, Petolemies barbary worlds, and a few other minor races. Mar'rack was an old war tawn, a humorous turn of phrase considering Mar'Rack had failed to ride those beasts on his trips to Tel'Rock's stables. He had served in many campaigns within the Hegemony, from putting down slave rebellions, to wars against tyrants who thought they could take Lockhet for themselves. If he had been born in one of the few republics and not a kingdom he would mostly likely have been a general and been in charge of this war.

Next to them and listening closely was Rel'Rock, Tel'Rock's son and heir, Leader of Venerables. He was wearing the Venerable heavy armor power suit, the Petolemaic analogue to the Terran Power Armor, colored bronze red with stylized gold markings. It was in point of fact the same suit Tel'Rock wore when he had been a young ambitious warlord, though he wore a short red cape as his station required. This was his first time outside of the Hegemony and his first time on campaign, which was good. If he was to someday lead Lockhet and hopefully be skilled enough to end "The Time of the Headless Tribes", he would need to become a warrior and statesmen of much skill, and not just inherit his father's name and wealth.

The last officer was General James Projak, the Terran turncoat Tel'Rock had taken into his army after he had sold out a terran colony a year ago. Projak apparently had ambitions along the lines of a tyrant, and the mindset of one as well. He wanted power and land and didn't care what he had to do to get it. A useful tool in the Hegemony as long as he was kept on a short leash, which Tel'Rock did, but a short leash in the Hegemony was a great deal longer than what the Terran would have kept on him. Projak had used the wealth he had gotten from selling out his fellow Terran to raise a small army of the fast moving assault troops known as Guards on Lockhet, then had used them to force three Petolemies barbary worlds under his, and by extension Tel'Rock's, rule. He had since added brutes from those worlds to augment his forces and built himself a castle on Lockhet. Of the officers in the room he seemed to bring down the cheer, as he grimly looked over a map laid out on the table. He was wearing a modified Terran uniform, instead of the grey with black trimming and silver buttons, it was green with red trimming and gold buttons.

"Good morning gentlemen." Tel'Rock commented as he walked forward to the table. The others quickly responded in greetings, wanting to get on to whatever concerns they had, but he wanted to get something out of the way first, "I know the loss of the dreadnought _Lockhet_ lowers our chance of holding this planet when the Terran counter attack, so our objectives have changed. We are here to loot and capture as much as possible now, so with this being a massive raid and not an invasion. How goes our efforts?"

He looked to Lo'Ho expectantly, "We were able to force the Terran out of the northernmost district last night, and have forced the doors on several of the raid shelters taking about a thousand Terran prisoners. I have already had them packed aboard a transport for shipment back to Lockhet. We were stalled from getting too far in before they sent power suits to stop us. With the help of Colonel Mar'Rack's Soldiers, and Rel'Rock's Venerables we were able to fight further into the city, but there's apparently a unit of Terran Marauders within the city as well and they have forced us to pull back to the edge of the city at the outermost trench line and we are regrouping for another push."

"Good." Tel'Rock replied, "When can we launch another assault?"

Lo'Ho looked on blankly for a few moments before he gave the answer, "I can set up another attack on the northern flank by midday, however we will be hitting their most powerful forces."

"Then hit from the south," Colonel Mar'Rack said pointing his long finger at the map. "My warriors can hit the south and butcher the light infantry there before they can move troops from the north."

"That sounds like a good plan," Tel'Rock commented, "But what about that destroyer hovering over the city? Won't they bring that over there and use its main guns on any attacking force to purchase time for reinforcements?"

"They would." General Projak commented in his Terran accented Petolemies, "The only reason they didn't use it last night, is because of the rapid attack we used. The only reason they're not using it now is because we're jamming the Terran signals in the area, making it impossible to use nukes and lasers without possibly killing their own. Both of these assets we do not have in the south, which means we need to remove that destroyer one way or another."

Tel'Rock nodded, seeing the necessity of this action, but did not relish sending a ship to fight here, destroyers were purpose built for fighting Hegemony ships, and the Terran ship would have the advantage of MAC Haulers mounted with high density laser cannons as local anti air defences.

"I have a way to do it quickly." Projak stated, "If you wish it, I can begin working on taking that ship down, but it will require a feint in the east to draw its attention away from my forces and no fighting in the south."

Tel'Rock thought it over and figured one day would not harm them too much in the grand scheme of things, "You have authorization Projak." He looked to his other Lieutenants, and demanded, "What of the alien ship in the south?" He was interesting in hearing what the scouting party they had sent south had discovered.

Lo'Ho shook his head sadly, "They have not returned and I fear they have been killed by these new aliens." Tel'Rock doubted they would have been captured so killed was the likely assumption, if they had been captured, the raiders would end their own life rather than tell valuable secrets, "I would suggest that when we have the manpower, we send a more substantial force to attack them, and loot as much equipment as possible from the wreck while we're at it."

Tel'Rock agreed with the idea but took a more reasonable route they could accomplish, "Mar'Rack, prepare a raiding lance and send them south, for now lets just make sure they can't link up with the Terran, we will send more forces to destroy these aliens once we are sure that destroyer is dealt with."

to Be continued


	6. Chapter 6 Book one (9-9-16)

Chapter 6

Edited by a person of many names Blood Raven AKA TimedRaven117. Go check out his story Mass Effect: X-Com Theory!

* * *

**TFS **_**Vanker**_**, Shanxi, 2657GS, April/25/2329 AD**

Albiraka sat on the bridge with the rest of the crew watching the main screen as one of his security officers tried to interrogate the "Skinnie". So far they had gotten nothing out of him, as the language barrier was, as expected, proving to be an infuriating obstacle. However they were learning things from the bodies of his fallen comrades.

The "Skinnies" seemed to range from 7 to 9 feet tall and were thin, which was probably why they were called a term he was starting to think was a special slur, like the Batarian "four eyes", or Quarians "suit rats", and had thick leathery greyish skin. Their finger and toes were clawed and they had bone protrusions on their shoulder and elbows, and on at least one of the bodies, the spine as well. Their head was topped with five bone horns and on the sides of their mouth there were two pairs of protruding mandible tusks. The top pair seemed to be able to move, while the bottom pair seemed to be split between non moving tusks, or a bit of extra flesh. It was possible this was a way to tell the difference between ages groups or a racial separation within the species, but without a greater sample size it meant nothing.

The face of the skinnie was hard to describe, they had no upper lip, no perhaps it was better to say their upper lip was composed of a wall of solid teeth, which was kinda odd considering they did have a lower lip. The last piece of information they had managed pry from the corpses was that the Skinnies had two small black eyes and nostrils holes on their forehead between the eyes.

Their equipment was telling as well, their guns seemed to be chemical combustion based like the Terrans, though the bullets in them were tipped with various substances that were most likely poisons or other dangerous contaminants, like plutonium or anticoagulants, and they carried a electrofied staff on their back as a hand to hand weapon.

Their suits showed that they were natives to a much hotter climate, that they were able to breath both methane and oxygen and got the most out of a mixture of the two. This species seemed to be an outlier like the Volus, with that discovery and he doubt it would be the last they find from the bodies. In fact a new one was discovered as he looked at the screen. The Skinnie sitting across from his officer started convulsing. His officer stood up and tried to help but the skinnie was already dead. By the time a guard and medical officer could rush in to help the skinnie, it was too late.

* * *

**Shanxi, crash site, April/25/2329 AD**

Jack Harper laid prone, on top of a hill as he looked through his old snoopers, binoculars with heat, night vision, and several other modes, at the alien craft. To say he was surprised it had survived entry in as big a piece as it did was an understatement. It was as big as a Roger Young class frigate, and anything that big built by the Federation became subject to "fragile keel syndrome", and had a chance to break apart long before crashing. He saw signs of battle, a large burnt part of the field, and some crops tattered from gunfire being the biggest clues.

However he doubted the "Turians" were dumb enough to not have a watch, so he flicked his snooper to thermal. It was starting to heat up as the day progressed into the afternoon, but he saw clear enough that red figures popped up, lots of them hidden in and about the field, as well as more positioned in a hastily dug battle line covered by camo netting that matched the terrain. He could also see now that there was a camouflaged observation tower that he had missed on his first look.

"Sneaky bastards aren't you." Jack complemented with a smile. The defences were up to standards, though he doubted the skinnie hovercraft would set off the mines they had hidden under the soil, something he guessed at, since this species knew enough tactics to dig trenches. He reached up to his helmet and sent a signal to the other mercs to make their way up the hill behind him.

Taking a deep breath he uttered, "Here we go," Switching to the provided channel the general had given him he alerted, "This is Terran advisors to Turian vessel _Vanker_, please report, over."

He gave it a few minute waiting to see if the aliens had heard him and was about to call again when the response came.

"This is Colonel Stradas of the Turian Hierarchy, who is this? And what's this about advisors?"

Letting out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding, Jack replied, "This is Jack Harper, security contractor employed by the Morita Arms Company and a veteran skinnie fighter, General Williams sent me and a few of my operators to give you intel on the skinnies. He didn't inform you on our presence due to unreliable radio channels."

There was a pause and then the alien stated, "Alright Operator Harper. If you're lying to me the best thing that will happen to you is ending up in our brig." He left the threat hanging, just letting Jack imagine the various fates that could occur.

"Not a problem." Jack muttered before he rose to his full height, raising a hand to show his presence. The other mercs waited for the all clear to be given before they would rise, but as Jack joked, "Visible appendages are the universal sign for 'don't shoot me assholes.'" He waited like this until he saw a figure move out of the fortifications.

And proceeded on a very roundabout, lengthy path, doing several loops before reaching the edge of the field. What he assumed was the safe path through the minefield. Once they reached what he assumed was the edge, the soldier waved Jack over.

Jack started walking down the hill and one by one, his fellow operators started to slowly show themselves from the tall grass, taking care to not look threatening. Jack could see he had half a dozen red dots on his chest and head each.

Jack reached the bottom of the hill and met with the alien who simply spoke, "Follow close." In broken English and led the way back toward the ship. Jack took as much mental notes about how the Turians back looked as he could during that time.

The Alien led them right up to a gash in the ship's hull they were using as an entrance and requested "Weapon here. All please"

Jack shook his head in negative, but looking to two of his soldiers said, "Adams, McDonnell, stay here and check the guns. Eva, Ulrich, try and find a spider hole to dig into, Friedman make sure that launcher is in order, and see if you can't make any special surprises for the Skinnies. Ben with me, keep your pistol and knife."

Looking at the Alien as his squad dispersed to their ordered duties, Adam and McDonnell taking backpacks from their fellow soldiers and assembling specialist equipment and weapons. Eva and Ulrich nodded before going out in search of a high place to dig in, taking with them only Ulrich's pack. And finally Friedman with his mustache smiled as he set about righting his beret and pulling out his favorite rocket launcher, the FedCom 402-ML"Javelin" Missile Launcher, making sure to take note of avenues of likely approach for enemy armor and heavy infantry.

Finally, Jack began to remove all his various weapons and placed them on the provided table; his rifle after ejecting the cartridge in the barrel, clicking on the safety and unloading it. with all its ammunition magazines and ammo cartouche boxes, holding all the ammo he was expected to fight with. Next his pistol and back up pistol, unloading them, setting the safeties and neatly organizing the ammo clips. and Finally he removed both his primary, backup, and boot knife.

Ben Hislop also removed his weapons in a professional and organized matter, leaving only his primary knife and pistol. While the Turian looked like he was going to make a fuss about it, his arm lit up orange and after looking at it and tapping the holograms that appeared, nodded and led them inside where they met a small squad of Turian Soldiers holding rifles and a bit more bulky armor. After receiving one final weapon check, with Ben getting the most thorough examination for any other holdout weapons he may be carrying, they were finally on the move to the command center.

Jack was still wearing his Morita company power suit under his light armor so he wasn't completely helpless if this whole meeting went to Klendathu, but they didn't need to know that. It was not long before he was led into a hallway, where he assumed the commanding officers were waiting for him. The Turian led him to them and then left at their signal, "So which one of you is Colonel Albiraka?" He inquired.

"I am Captain Albiraka." The Turian on the right corrected, it was hard to tell them apart. Jack memorized the facial markings as a matter of course, hoping that would help down the line.

After never receiving a proper introduction for the other Turians in the hallway, Jack produced an encoded message on paper and began to decipher it, "This is the information you need to open a secure channel to General Williams." The Terran informed the Turian, "I'm just gonna presume your Colonel Stradas right?"

The second Turian nodded, "Yes."

"Good to meet you Colonel." Jack flashed a smile then continued, "So what do you want to know about the Skinnies? I got ten gigabytes of data on their forces, weapons, and leadership typically used by them, but I'm sure you want someone who actually fought them to inform you of their special capabilities. "

"You say you fought them before?" Stradas asked, Jack nodded in reply, "How is their military organization? What kind of weapons can we expect? And how likely are they to respond to us destroying one of their scouting patrols?"

"Their military organization is outdated as crap, it's a feudal levy, as a result the training on most their troops are below basic for a military minded army, and as we Humans know, being conscripted to fight means you don't care about the fighting. Give them an avenue to run by and apply a little pressure and unless they are particularly dedicated to this mission they will run. The only ones you need to really worry about are soldiers who wear gold armor, and Venerables who have red heavy armor powered suits. Those are the career soldiers and will fight much harder and do their best to keep the levies in line."

"As for weapons, probably everything the general went over with you already if you haven't been informed of those yet, you generally have Boneshard weapons with poison ammo, constrictor weapons that can be used for capturing, and laser weapons that can flay the flesh from your bone." Taking note that the Turians seemed to have thick skin he added, "Something you may not need to worry about as long as it's not the vehicle mounted version. They have hovercraft which defeat the purpose of your minefield out there if it's set off by weight by the way, and they tend to mount mass driver weapons on their hovercraft as crude tanks, they aren't much better than an IFV."

"As for how likely they are to respond to the destruction of a scouting party, likely nothing more than what they were planning already. From what I understand this is a classical warlord type leader. If I had to guess I'd say he probably will send a small force just to keep you occupied, make sure you don't try and link up with general Williams, and steal your equipment for later study if he survives long enough."

"Warlord type? What does that mean exactly?" Captain Albiraka asked.

"In order to keep the better track on how the Skinnies work, Military Intelligence separated each leader into their own little type. Like a video game. Lords are more feudal thinking, caring about territory and inheritance and all that political bullshit, Generals tend to be honorable warriors, or the really good ones, soldiers, and have come up through the ranks. Which makes them a little more respectable." Jack explained, revealing the Terran bias for soldiers, "There's also Warchiefs which are supposedly great orators and can inspire their troops to zealot levels of fanatical devotion. And finally there's Tyrants, who are out to makes gains for themselves and those around them who are loyal, they are the kinda monster who is willing to kill millions of innocents if it would help them reach their goal. "

"As you can see, they don't really have a good chain of command, no official NCOs, small officer corps, reliant on cult of personality and religion to get their conscripts fighting. Take out the head and the usual warband will fall apart. For an army this size he likely has lieutenants, but we have no way of knowing if they are loyal to him, or his cause."

Captain Albiraka shook, "With how backwards this species is, how have you not rolled them over and dealt with them yet?" He asked.

"We have bigger problems than the skinnies that takes up most of our capacity to make war. But I can bet you the next target on our shitlist is these guys." Jack continued knowing the next question, "No I can't tell you what it is, officers have been hanged for letting out info they shouldn't to fellow Terrans, I'm not going to even try and push my luck with aliens we don't have an official treaty with."

Captain Albiraka nodded, seeming to understand, than questioned, "Do you have any idea how they kill themselves with-"

"Suicide gland." Jack deadpanned, already knowing the answer, "SICON's not sure why it got through the natural selection filter of stupid shit our bodies create, or where it comes from, but it creates some chemical that completely destroys the body, bones, flesh and DNA. Turns the poor bastard into a slurry you could slurp up with a straw."

"Why would they have that in them?" Colonel Stradas asked in confusion to himself.

"No idea, but I always bet on aliens… whenever you run into something odd like that in space, it's usually some other alien species genetic fuckery."

* * *

**Commander Center, Shanxi, April/25/2329 AD**

Brigadier General Alexander Williams studied the holographic map of the city with a careful eye. It was a low detail image since they were running the mapping from satellite uplinks that had not been shot down around orbit of the moon, and the equipment on the destroyer, but it did it's job, giving him a bird's eye view of the siege.

So far the enemy had only broken into the city in the north, the powersuits unit and Marauders were keeping the Skinnies from expanding their bridgehead further into the city. However they had began an attack on the east forcing him to order the Destroyer over that part of the city, right now he could tell that the ship was firing its crimson beams on the enemy formation that had charged the wall on that side. Hopefully this foolhardy attack would cost the skinnies more than his own reserves he mused, as one of his aides came up behind him.

"Ah sir… I'm not sure what's going on, but we've lost contact with MAC Hauler 7." The aide reported.

"What?" Williams looked to the map and ordered, "MAC Hauler 7 on the map." As the AI went about the work he asked, "Did they say anything was wrong before we lost contact?"

"No sir, the last report was an hour ago, they reported nothing wrong, and were moving the Laser to a new position, sector 7 I believe."

That wasn't odd, the guns were moved every few hours each on their own schedule to prevent an organized strike from wiping them out all at once. Williams turned back to the map wondering what was up when the AI found MAC Hauler 7, on the east side of town her gun pointed to the sky… and the destroyer Jamestown in her sites.

"Wha-" The gun on the back of the MAC Hauler 7 fired, represented by a red dot being produced, ripping a massive hole through the edge of the destroyer, causing it to list to one side, and roll onto it back mid air, the ship held that place for a moment, the room dead quiet as the shock took hold. Then the ship began to move away from the city, shuttles and escapes pods launching from the doomed and burning craft. The ship was going to crash and explode wherever it hit, the captain was most likely trying to get her as far away from the city as far as possible, hopefully on top of the enemy encampment.

"Send a squad of troopers to that position immediately and kill the crew! No belay that, capture the crew then bring back here for 'punishment'!" Williams ordered, he didn't know what had happened, who was responsible, and if they could survive without the aid of the destroyer, but he did know that he was going to make sure the person responsible was sent to hell before the skinnies overran the city.

* * *

**East of Shanxi, Officers pavilion April/25/2329 AD**

Fear and greed, two of the most powerful forces that held sway over the human mind. They were also something that was easy to manipulate as far as General James Projak was concerned. Projak watched the troublesome destroyer leave a black smoke trail across the sky with a smile as he sat on a fold out chair under a cheap umbrella, alcoholic drink sitting on the table next to him. It was easy to get some of his guards to sneak through the defences, they were skilled in stealth. So he had sent a few in the night before, in order to gain favor and appear like a genius to his lord if they needed to destroy the ship.

The hard part was to have them to find a Terran soldier and offer him a "deal" that he would accept, no one was stupid enough to betray their nation during a siege, before yes, but you had no insurance during the battle one misplaced bullet and the traitor joins the dead loyalists. Probably took time for the Guards to convince a Terran to turn traitor, but they obviously got enough information on how to use the MAC and used it to achieve Projak's goals splendidly. "Ar'Ack." Projak said, taking his glasses off to clean spot of dust of them.

"Yes my lord." The guard said, his red armor spotless, and gold trim gleaming in the glorious sunlight.

"Send a force to follow that ship, if it survives the crash let me know. The warriors could use a good looting, slave taking, and scavenging to work off the stress." He commented pushing his glasses onto his face.

'_If they don't just nuke it first.' _Projak mused.

* * *

**East Federation territory, Shanxi system, TFS-CB **_**William Wallace**_April/25/2329 AD

Commander Huaka Kamea relaxed in his seat as the _Wallace _decelerated. He had gotten orders to take his ship to this backwater world a week ago, and had made good time in getting here, he had taken full advantage of his Athena Battle Cruiser's speed and fuel resupply system to cut a few days off the journey. He didn't know what was going on, he figured he would find out once he got there, but the message he had gotten from the Sky Marshal had left the impression that it was a little more than a minor fleet movement, if that.

Opening his eyes from his rest, Kamea asked "Lieutenant Toutain, link up to the local defence network, let them know we arrived." He sat back and waited for the long awaited explanation. Instead his crew started to get suddenly nervous.

"Sir the local defence network is down. I'm detecting a few satellites in system, we're trying to get a signal from them now." Lieutenant Toutain reported in his french canadian accent, "Bringing images up now."

The view screen changed to a live stream from a satellite most likely in orbit of the colony's moon. The image zoomed to reveal the burning colony of Shanxi, with several Skinnie starships hovering miles above. The bridge crew were staring at the destruction with horror and Kamea let them, it was good motivation to hit back, which he wanted to, but because of the enemy, he had to play his part.

He quickly brought up a link and called up the Mobile Infantry commander on board, it took two rings to bring him, "Captain T'Phai, we have arrived at Shanxi, however the planet is under siege by a significant force of Skinny raiders, due to the makeup of your force we must head back to-"

"Commander Huaka Kamea," T'phai interrupted, drawing out the a's in his name, "Do you believe Shanxi can hold without our aid?"

"Shanxi, from my reports, is severely understrength, I doubt she will last the next three days without legendary tactics, or a lot of damage." Kamea informed.

"Then Commander Kamea we should ignore the regulations and prepare for a combat drop."

"Alright, Captain T'Phai prepare your men for drop and good luck, and hold on this will get bumpy." Kamea turned back to his horrified crew, but this time they were staring right at him. "What? He's the one ordering the attack."

"But sir!" Lieutenant Toutain replied, "Regulations are clear, that we should not allow skinnies to fight-"

"T'Phai has years of loyal Federation service, and the ear of Brigadier General Juan Rico of the Roughnecks, the big bug-war hero, he can get away with this. Now if you are done being petrified like a bunch of school children awaiting vaccination shots, prepare the ship for a combat drop, there's an enemy out there who thinks he can fight the Federation and needs a good old fashioned stomping to remember who he's dealing with, I intend to deliver that stomping on a silver fucking platter!"

* * *

to be continued

* * *

Terran Gunsmith's Extraordinaire Codex edition, Volume 1:

FedCom 402-ML"Javelin" Missile Launcher: Using a specialized hopper feed for loading missiles, it has been plagued with issues of reliability as it invariably attracts dust into its open feeding system. Despite later models using a closed clip system, its reputation for unreliability has stuck. However its effectiveness when it works cannot be understated as multiple targets, either flying or on the ground can be eliminated with large blast radius'.

Units produced: ~847,000,000 (847 Million)


	7. Chapter 7 Book one (9-9-16)

Chapter 7

Edited by a person of many names Blood Raven AKA TimedRaven117. Go check out his story Mass Effect: X-Com Theory!

~[==|==]~

**East Federation territory, Shanxi system, TFS-CB **_**William Wallace **_**April/25/2329 AD**

Private Ailis Pedersen heard the banging before she even left her dream world. One moment she was about to talk to her high school crush, something she had failed at too many times, the next she watched an anvil fall from the sky and smash him and splash her in his blood, then another anvil and another. She woke on the fifth one, and stumbled out of bed hitting the button to open the door and find out who was trying to break it down.

"About goddamn time! Listen sleeping beauty, do you not hear that alarm or are you just deaf?" The screaming was coming from Sergeant Major Roch Raoult, the right hand man in Third platoon and resident hard ass.

"Alarm?" Ailis asked, tilting her head in confusion, before hearing the stand by for action alarm.

Her eyes widened as a knowing grin spread across Roch's face, "Oh, now it registers. Since you're now understanding the situation why don't you walk your ass back in there and get dressed or would you prefer to drop in nothing, but-"

Ailis slammed the door in his face, she was sure she would pay for that latter on, he was her superior officer, but anything was better than the embarrassment of the coming comment. She ran over to her locker and began pull out and cover herself with her underarmor jumpsuit for the power suit. Once she had that secured, she pulled on an outer layer of armor, standard issue green, the Tawns hadn't opted for a personal color like the Bernstein's Zebras Regiment, or Bela's BlackShields.

She pulled on the boots and strapped on the shoulder pads, thigh armor, and the three finger gloves that really needed to be updated before shoving her helmet on. She pulled out her sidearm and slid it in the holster. Then she reached for her cameras. "Off to another glorious day as a Fednet reporter." She complained, strapping one of the cameras to her shoulder.

She stepped out into the hall and jogged down with the flow of people heading to the armory and drop bays. She reached it in time to see a work crew lifting crates marked C.H.A.S. onto a Redhawk Drop Boat along with other supplies, and Second platoon loading their Exosuit armors onto two of the four Slingshots retrieval boats. She flicked on her camera as she moved over to the armory and grabbed a Morita 201-A Assault Rifle "Ape Maker", she strapped it to her back hoping against hope she would not need it, and focused on getting some good shots of all the preparatory action. She knew those ex-workcrews absolutely loved this shit.

Where were they dropping on anyways?

She turned in time to see lieutenant Lewis Dale walking to the others in the platoon who were gathered by the other two Slingshots. She moved to catch up, but Sergeant Major Roch stepped between her and the others, "Twenty push ups."

"Excuse me?" Ailis asked, annoyed that he was standing between her and information.

"Listen I can have you run around this dropbay four times for slamming the door in my face, and make sure you don't find out what's going on, or you can give me the push ups and you might make it over there and you get a scoop." Roch said, being frank with her.

Ailis groused, "Damn frenchmen." Before starting her push ups. In her Power Suit it was almost insulting, with her mechanically enhanced strength, she could literally do it all day.

"It's French Canadian, and thirty now." Roch ordered, watching her to get through five before he added, "The planet we've been deployed to has been invaded, instead of withdrawing and going for help are industrious leaders decided to go stomp the Skinnie attackers."

"Fifteen, Captain T'Phai's taking us into combat? But we Tawns are a mixed Skinnie Terran company, I though-"

"Yeah well Captain T'Phai's a close friend to the leader of the Roughnecks, and the Tawns are offshoots of Roughnecks as well, he will get off scot free since everyone knows that regulation is political crap." Roch theorized.

"Twenty, how are the Tawns an off shoot of the Roughnecks anyway?" Ailis asked, she had only been part of Third Platoon for a month, and had not gotten a history on the three other platoons.

"You don't know?" Roch asked as if she was joking, "Shit you suck at your job, who is the leader of Second Platoon?"

"Twenty five, ah the old guy, E-Emilio Rizo?" She thought she remembered the name right.

"It's LIEUTENANT Emilio Rico, Brigadier General Juan Rico's father." Roch stated.

"Your Joking?" Ailis stopped to look up and Roch

"Twenty seven, and no, he's the father of the hero Jaun Rico, and if you had done any research at all you would know T'Phai was saved by, and then part of the Roughnecks a decade ago."

"Twenty eight, I wonder if I can get an interview?"

"Survive the drop and maybe you will, of course you failed to get an interview with Lieutenant Dale, your own commander, I wouldn't be surprised if you fail in that too recruit."

"Thirty," Ailis stood up, looking at Roch and calmly stated, "Your the one who keeps getting in the way of that interview."

"Hmm your right." Roch replied matter of factly "Of course I might be stone walling you on Dale's orders, have you considered that?"

"Yes." Ailis glared at Roch, "Which is why I'm considering gunning for your job."

Roch stared at her for a moment and then started to sputter and then laugh his ass off, "Oh god girl you missed your calling, you should have gone into comedy." He walked off leaving Ailis annoyed and pouting.

"It wasn't that funny." She pouted out under her breath, about to start walking toward Lieutenant Dale when the alarms changed, going from the stand by to action alarm, to begin preparations for the drop alarm.

Several of her squad ran past her, heading for a Slingshot, "Oh God." She moaned as she chased after them and scrambled into the drop boat and headed for a seat. She was grabbed by her jump-pack and pulled toward the wall of the Slingshot, "Hey wha-" she turned and saw sergeant Johnson.

"You're late! I won't chew you out right now about that though. This bird is going to get us over the target area, so get ready!" He pushed her into a drop tube and hit the activation button causing the door to shut her in. She could still hear him thanks to the in built comms system. "Just remember reporter girl, hit the jump jets right when the suit says its safe or you will be chunky salsa on landing."

She gulped as a secondary re-entry suit, the M2 drop capsule, closed around her, and then she was left in the dark tube waiting. She used what motion she had with her fingers to activate the ship wide channel in hopes of finding out what was going on, however the ship had gone radio silent. She sighed wondering what was going on outside the little tube, when she felt a sudden FTL acceleration then another faster deceleration cause her stomach to do back flips then she heard a voice, possibly a member of the drop bay crew. "All boats you have a go." She felt the Slingshot be picked up by the crane above it and heaved out the _William Wallace _before being dropped into space.

She felt herself falling for a good while before the boat engines activated. She could hear chatter about the battle in progress from fighter craft that had been deployed. The Second and her own unit had gotten out of their bay without any problems but the other two platoons were having a much tougher time of it.

Something about one of the Slingshot's having been hit and exploded right outside the bay causing the mechanism for dropping the boats to jam. She wondered how they were going to get the rest of the Company out but then she was out of range of the conversation. A few moments went by and nothing happened.

Sergeant Johnson's voice came over her radio, "Time for the good part apes!" The dark lit up as the bottom of the Slingshot revealed itself to the emptiness of space. The world beneath her was almost beautiful and it would have been beautiful had the harness holding her not released her.

She descended, surrounded by dozens of other capsules filled with others from her platoon, it wouldn't be long until she was engulfed in the fires of reentry, so she took the moment to get a picture of the falling troopers.

She would have preferred to ride a boat down, but the fact was it was statistically safer for the troopers to be in the small, fast moving drop capsule, than a large boat with dozens of others.

She could barely see the _William Wallace _anymore, engaged in combat with a green Roger Young, and by the looks of it she was winning as a laser originating from her own side speared the opponent like a fish. She wanted to cheer, and got a picture just before she lost sight of everything but the fire outside her suit.

When the flames cleared she could no longer see the ships, only the dark night sky. The capsule automatically broke apart from her power suit, its remains' creating chaff to cover the rest of her fall.

She put herself horizontal so she could look to the green landscape below, and could just make out camp and cook fires surrounding a city, she flipped her targeting visor down and reported her target was the southern edge of the large siege camp, a combat insertion.

They were going to land right in the enemy at night, a massacre in the making for the Terrans if the power suit weren't already sharing info, the Terrans would know where their fellows were while the Skinnies would be just confused in the middle of the night, possibly shooting at their own in the chaos while the Power Suits would torch anything, shoot everything, and plant a couple demolitions charges on any structures.

She started to smile until a mass driver projectile flew past her, its wake sending her off course a bit. Correcting her course she was soon assailed by more of the rounds, causing her to dodge further out of the fire zone. She looked over her shoulder to see what the Skinnies were aiming at and saw the Redhawk in the line of fire, already burning, peeling off course and heading south out of control. She hoped they would land safely, they needed all the help they could get.

She focused more on the oncoming ground, forgetting the Redhawk. The moment her suit told her it was time to activate her jump jets she did. Hitting her chest plate, activating the jump jets and slowing her descent to a much less lethal speed. Even with her descent she expected to hit the ground with a stumble, but she misjudged her landing zone, and crashed through the roof of a dirt colored tent.

Disoriented she clawed off the ground and pulled her pistol on a Skinnie who apparently had been about to go to bed, half his combat suit off. She started at the alien as he flew back in surprise.

Suddenly the Skinnie jumped over his bed and grabbed Boneshard pistol. Ailis fired two rounds missing him before he fired back hitting her shoulder guard. She was thrown back into an armor stand and just managed to fire off a few rounds into the Skinnie's chest, spraying the tents wall with blue blood.

She waited to make sure the Skinnie was dead, then went about getting herself untangled from the fabrics of the tent. Once she was free she brought her rifle out, and exited the tent only to see several green armored Skinnie pointing their guns at her. "Ahh.. shit!" She complained as she saw how angry they looked. She wished the Federation included translators on their suits as she had no idea what the Skinnies were yelling at her.

"Get down!" A voice ordered over her comm and she dove for the ground as twin streams of rotary cannon ammo cut their way through the tent and Skinnies, likely going for much farther as it tore the next line of tents down as well.

Ailis looked up from the ground at the severed remains of the Skinnies before she flipped over to see here saviours. An eight foot tall grizzly exosuit, the suit was fully armored, no neck neck and helmet but instead the trooper was looking out a v shaped gold tinted visor in the head dome. On the suits shoulders rested sixgun rotary cannons that had turned the Skinnies to blue mist.

"Your lost." The suit commented, as if from god himself.

"Huh?" Allis asked befuddled.

"You're off course. Your platoon's a half a mile East." The armored soldier pointed off to the right, "Good thing for you we're heading to the same rendevous, get up trooper we only got minutes at best!" God explained moving forward.

Jumping onto her feet and checking her Morita for any damage, she figured she was the luckiest reporter in the sector. She'd love to get some good footage of a fucking assault trooper.

~[==|==]~

**East Federation territory, Shanxi, ****Petolemaic southern line, ****April/26/2329 AD**

Captain T'Phai landed peacefully in the middle of a secured perimeter held by the Tawns First Platoon, the camp around them was burning and the ground was carpeted with Petolemaic dead. A small part of him was sickened to see the dead from his own species, they were simply doing something that was an a very old part of Petolemaic culture. He had even led raids on Terran colonies years before the Arachnid menace had come and enslave his world, but times had changed. The Petolemies and the Terrans needed to unite to fight the greater threat and if the fools who led the Hegemony could not see that, then they were his enemy same as the bugs.

Stepping toward the commander of First Platoon, Lieutenant Da'Pha, he asked, "Have the Fourth landed safely?" He was worried for the unit, half their battlegroup and Lieutenant Black were killed in orbit by a lucky shot from a captured Roger Young class, instead of the full muster of 38 troopers and 12 marauders the platoon was just over half that now.

"They are moving to link up with us now." Da'Pha stated at attention, his wasteland accent coming through strong in his native tongue.

"They landed by the the mass driver triple A. The… 'enemy' used to take out the Redhawk and destroyed it, they were unable to locate the 'enemy' commanders."

T'Phai took note of the way Da'Pha said enemy, but decided not to raise the subject. It was Da'Pha's right to find fighting their brothers disdainful, but as long as he stayed loyal and fought them, it did not matter. Besides making an issue of it in the middle of a battle field was just a flawed way to lead. "Good, Lieutenant Da'Pha when the Fourth regroup with us, you are take command of them and begin preparations to beat feet to the north and into the city of Shanxi. Maybe if we're lucky, we can convince the levies to surrender."

Da'Pha nodded and gave a Terran salute as T'Phai walked over to the edge of the battle square. He reached up to the side of the helm and raised the Second and Third, "Lieutenant Rico, Lieutenant Dale, what's your status?"

There was a moment's pause before a response, "Rico here, we hit the area you suggested, negative on finding the commanding officer, we lost one Exosuit to constrictor cannon, but the trooper was able to eject. We're breaking through the enemy to meet up with you now, and have picked up some stray Thirds. ETA five minutes to link up."

"This is Dale we got scattered by the anti aircraft fire and have been trying to regroup, minimal losses, but we landed right on their weapons cache, airfield, and fuel dump. Once we have it set to blow we will move to meet you at your location, ETA fifteen minutes."

"Good work, keep the enemy pinned down, don't let them get the chance to regroup and take the initiative, turning this surprise attack into a massacre." T'Phai ordered. He looked to the western sky and called out, "Alpha Squadron, what happen up there?"

"Sir, Redhawk one crashed to the south east. It's burning so I don't think the enemy will get anything from her, Redhawk two landed in the city 30 seconds ago and is offloading supplies. Three of the Slingshots made it into the city and are offloading supplies. The last one crashed in the no-mans land along the path you will have to take to get into the city. My Gunships are attacking the enemy lines up and down the south, No loss as yet, but the longer we wait the more fuel we burn. Thunderbolt's have left orbit and will be outfitted for a bombing runs in 15 minutes, where do you want them to hit?"

T'Phai thought about it for a moment then ordered, "Have the commander of the Thunderbolt wing strafe the southern perimeter, that's where they are keeping their reserves so priority targets are mechanized forces and transports."

"Yes sir!" The Alpha Lead confirmed.

T'Phai held his arms behind his back as he watched an force enemy rush at the perimeter the Terrans and Petolemies under his command had set up, decimating them remorselessly. Something was off, he admitted that Petolemies tactics could be lacking sometimes, but the attacks that were coming at his men seemed more like mob mentality than any real tactical formation.

'_Perhaps we got the commander and just didn't know it_.' He mused as the Fourth came up behind the enemy and let there Chieckhank marauders smoke the enemy into mince meat, '_Or perhaps he is just as confused as his underlings_.' Not to long after that, Second platoon joined them, and Third joined up as the wing of fighter bombers hit the enemy.

"Lieutenant Junior Grade Ivanovych sir! We heard a party's being thrown at Shanxi, would you mind opening the door Alpha lead? We'll buy the drinks!" The eager second to Third platoon inquired.

"Willco, have fun out there boys and girls." The voice responded, and a few seconds later a wing of hypersonic firefoxes came in low, firing dual rotary cannons and birdbolt HE missiles, once again proving the age old adage, "Incoming fire has the right of way".

The Federation forces moved quickly to capitalize the opening, jogging through the torn up bodies and the remains of sleeping quarters. The Fourth were leading the way followed by the Third just to make sure the Jumpy Terrans didn't fire at friendlies.

T'Phai was among the last few to jump into the trench having turned to look at the devastation one company had unleased. The camp was burning and though he doubted they killed more than what the enemy could afford to lose, he knew such an attack would harm the moral and with any luck may cause desertion of this campaign by those who thought the defenders had already fallen.

~[==|==]~

**East Federation territory, Shanxi, ****Ptolemaic eastern line, ****April/26/2329 AD**

General Projak did his best statue impression as a glass flew by his head. Skinnie Lords were not known for keeping their anger in check, Tel'Rock had ordered his commanders here in order to find out what the hell had happened the night before, unfortunately the commander who had control in the south last night, Lo'Ho had yet to show his face. He was either dead or more likely on the run thinking his failure to hold the line last night was his death sentence. But while Tel'Rock could be an angry Petolemaic, he was not a cruel one, especially not towards friends.

"When Lo'Ho gets here I'm going to break his hand!" Tel'rock muttered in a dark rage as he picked up another glass and filled it with Valorian Shine. "General ProjaL what happen last night? You said the Terrans wouldn't get reinforced for at least three weeks!" The question was pointed and there was dark tone to his voice.

Luckily Projak was prepared, "I've reviewed the footage from my ship in orbit, and It was one ship my lord, and a battlecruiser at that, if it wasn't already coming here to join the fleet it was simple poor luck that it stumbled on our operations here while on a scheduled patrol." The battlecruiser had nearly destroyed the _Errant Venture_ in last night's battle before it escaped into FTL when the rest of the fleet moved to try and destroy her. He doubted that ship would come back, battlecruisers may have an impressive array of weapons, but only one type of ship could get over the number disparity and that ship was most certainly not a Federation dreadnought.

"Then it was just a run of bad luck?" Mar'Rack commented sarcastically, "There no such thing, first we run into aliens using Terran languages, now a Terran battlecruiser causes havoc on our force's morale, this campaign's been cursed."

Projak raised an eyebrow, "Colonel Mar'Rack, I would never have pegged you for a believer in the paranormal."

"When you get over a hundred years, everything seems possible." The Petolemaic said taking on offered drink from his Lord.

"Yes well barring there being some god like being deciding to cast this campaigns fate as doomed, We can launch an attack tonight that will end this siege." Projak stated.

Tel'Rock downed the glass he had in his hand, Rel'Rock spoke up from where he stood "That may be true, but we can no longer put the raiders in the first wave, their confidence was broken last night and I have seen three ships of them leave this morning."

"Cowards." Tel'Rock scorned and he poured himself another drink.

"What do you expect from Conscripts?" Projak commented reasonably, "The raiders have been and always will be cannon fodder, let my brutes take up the first wave, they will break the Terran lines in the east and the rest of our forces can finish them off while they are falling back."

Tel'Rock looked thoughtful before a look of determination came over his face, "General Projac I order you obliterate that eastern line."

Projac bowed, "It will be an honor my lord."

A Raider sergeant opened the pavilion's flap and entered, "My lords! I bring news of Colonel Lo'Ho."

Tel'rock looked resigned as he asked "Speak, what has happen to him?"

The raider looking fearful as he began, "He is Dead, We found his body in his Pavilion my lord. A Terran assassin fell through the roof of his tent and executed him with two bullets to the chest."

"Damn them." Tel'Rock spoke broodily, he looked down at his glass before he rose up, "I'm putting a reward out on Lo'Ho's killer, I want it alive to suffer the wrath of his family."

~[==|==]~

**East Federation territory, Shanxi, command center, April/26/2329 AD**

General Williams was happy, hard to believe since they were all doomed nonetheless, but any moment of joy was one he took nowadays. That joy was knowing that that the southern line of the Skinnie front had been decimated to the point that any attack coming from there would be crushed remorselessly. Best part of all was the devastation of the Skinnies had come with the added bonus of Exosuit reinforcements, something that would make this fight much more even though they were still outnumbered by who knew how many to one.

Williams viewed the city map, trying to find where the strikes would fall. the first day they had hit the north forcing him to move his heavies there, the second attack had been in the west to draw out the destroyer.

That left the south and the east where they had yet to press, and the south was broken. Which he kept in mind in case he had to have his forces make a fighting withdrawal from the city.

They only had two good places to hit from the north where the fighting would be hell, and the east where the line was untested and thus weak to a Skinnie mind. He reached over and picked up the radio, "Get me a line to Captain T'Phai."

A moment later his order was achieved, "This is Captain T'Phai." The hissing voice strangely soothing.

"Captain officially, I don't condone the breaking of protocol, unofficially if we survive this I'll pull every damn favor I have to make sure this is swept under the rung while personally building a statue in your honor."

"Thank you General Williams, Sir."

"No, thank you, now I need to take your troopers and redeploy to support the east wall, I think the enemy will hit us hard there, and your boys can gives us a chance at fending them off. And if you're feeling particularly clever, attack them first."

"I will move my forces immediately sir."

"Good luck Captain, and give them hell."

~[==|==]~

Terran Gunsmith's Extraordinaire Codex edition, Volume 1:

Morita 201-A Assault Rifle "Ape Maker": While effective against humanoid or psychologically affected targets, the weapon was initially ill suited for fighting the bugs. The heavy ammo and weapon, bulky size, and insufficient stopping power was made up for its availability, ease of use, and modability with underslung attachments ensuring its continued use despite its flaws, and in experienced hands of veteran or even properly trained soldiers, they can make these flaws into non issues or advantages. The general production and issuing of this rifles spawned the term apes for the first time, mainly because you'd have to be as strong as a primate to even hold one for a few minutes, and indeed how veteran a soldier is can be determined by how large their biceps are.

Units produced: ~100,000,000,000 (100 Billion)


	8. Chapter 8 Book one (9-10-16)

Chapter 8

Edited by a person of many names Blood Raven AKA TimedRaven117. Go check out his story Mass Effect: X-Com Theory!

~[==|==]~

**THS Hierarchy's Fist, Relay 314 system, 2657GS April/26/2329 AD**

Admiral Varlikam saluted as Vice Admiral Kalio Gainus stepped out of his shuttle onto the flight deck of the ship, "Vice Admiral Gainus. Good to see you sir!" Varlikam said holding the salute until Gainus returned it. Gainus was an old warhawk who had been a career soldier his entire adult life, he had mentored more than his share of young commanders in his day.

"Good to see you too Varlikam, I hear you walked right into a war." Gainus replied as General Spueus Tiburtus walked off the shuttle. Varlikam did not know much about Tiburtus, he was supposedly a good soldier and went by the book.

"More like a nest of wars," Albirus giving a quick salute to Tibertus, "But thankfully we only have to deal with one. For now at least."

"Yes these Skinnies?" Gainus commented, "I read the report on the trip to this system, I'm surprised a race that is that fractured could obtain space capabilities."

"It is surprising but perhaps they were unified along time ago?" Albirus surmised.

"Perhaps we should worry more about the fact these Skinnies have strange infantry weapons that are not even thorized by most scientist." Tiburtus commented.

"Hopefully these slavers will take one look at the fleet that we amassed and flee." Gainus added and it wasn't hard to argue with him, there were now three dreadnoughts and enough support vessels to keep them secured in this system, ready to bring retribution down on the Skinnie's heads.

"We can only hope you're right, but if not I'm not sure if we should begin operations with the Terrans on the ground, unless they can lend us advisors to minimise our losses." Albirus commented as he gestured for the other to follow, "I have invited the Terran commander aboard my ship, and she has agreed to answer all questions you may have in relation to the Skinnie."

"You said that it's a nest of wars, what do you mean by that?" Gainus asked.

"The Terran has stated that they are in on and off hostile contact with four species, one of which she claims is far worse than the Racni." Albirus explained

The other two looked at him like he was joking, "I find that suspect. The Ranchi wars went for centuries and claimed billions of lives, how long have they been at war with this Rachni-esque species?" Tiburtus asked.

"She didn't reveal that, but she did say they have living ships, are able to rewrite their DNA within a generation, and can colonize airless rocks open to the harshness of space. And they have a variety of forms that puts the Rachni to shame." Albirus responded opening the door, the two generals looked taken aback, so he added, "I'm sure you can get more info out of her if you talk to her, I think she really likes Thessian tea as well." He hinted playfully.

~[==|==]~

**Shanxi, crash site, April/26/2329 AD**

Eva Coré watched as a unit of Skinnie soldiers moved through the corn field, patrolling around the crash and keeping them from leaving. Didn't stop her Turian partner from joking that it was themselves who were stopping them from leaving.

The Skinnies had shown up at sunset and set up a fire base on the other side of the hill she and her fellow mercs had climbed the day before. So far they were not making any moves to attack their position, just watching them and keeping out of fire range.

"Hows are our new friends?" Jack asked pleasantly as he walked down the trench with the Turian commander, Colonel Stradas.

"Quiet as the corn and spread out over the living room." Eva retorted amusedly, lowering herself down, "My guess is they just want to keep us pinned here and out of the way"

"Possible." Jack commented, "Or their plan of attack was disrupted last night"

Eva smiled at that, the news of the brief reinforcement had been one of the first bits of good news since the destruction of that Skinnie Dreadnought and seemed to impress the Turians a significant amount when Jack had played the video over for the entire camp to enjoy. The fact the Skinnies had hit a planet with barely any advanced weapons or even a significant garrison and were still being held off, made them look weak to the Turians.

So when an orbital drop onto the southern lines not only obliterated the Skinnies there, but had made the Humans look even better. It had also resulted in respect when Jack mentioned his group of mercs were all former cap troopers who had done that kinda drop at least five times in the past. At least she thought it was respect, it could be a questioned look of their sanity.

"Either way, there is just enough to keep us from easily breaking out and supporting the main force. Although these Turian snipers are no joke, They have taken out at least a platoon of conscripts and warriors so far."

The Turian moved to the edge of the trench, "So these are the soldiers you mentioned, why do they were gold colored armor, it makes them easy to spot in the field."

Jack shrugged, "I think I heard something about their eyes being similar to dogs," he realised the alien would have no point of contact and amended, "They can only see bright flamboyant colors, but to tell you the truth I have no idea, bling of war perhaps? You could always ask a Terran aligned Skinnie."

"Friendly Skinnie?" the Turian asked confused, "I thought you were at war the them?"

"Well, um no." Jack seemed to get very uncomfortable so Eva jumped in.

"The Terran Federation is at war with the Skinnie Hegemony in some areas, mostly in the south and southeast galactic region which borders this system, but in the south west we're allies against a much greater threat which we are trying to eradicate, which is why you will find Skinnies serving in the Mobile Infantry. Unfortunately the sames goes for the Skinnies, you will sometimes find Humans seduced by the ideas of the Skinnie Hegemony working for them or leading their own campaigns into our territory. So yes we're at war with the Southern Hegemony, but unlike the war in the west it's a war of cultures not extermination. Which we try very hard to avoid. This is actually a touchy subject when you start to get into our history, especially the Second World War's Great Patriotic front between the Russians and the Germans."

"Extermination? What exactly are you fighting in the west to warrant total extermination?" Stradas asked it so inquisitive if not for Jack being behind him slashing his hand across his throat with a comical look on his face to tell her to speak no more about the bugs, her maternal instincts would have talked all day about the arachnid empire.

"Giant Bugs, and I shall say no more on that subject." She commented not giving any more clarification.

Stradas did not look satisfied by that, but an explosion broke up the little meeting. Everyone turned to look toward the sound which was were the Skinnies had hidden there camp, as another explosion followed by the very distinct sound of machine guns and screaming.

The Skinnies that had been patrolling around the ship at a distance rushed back towards their camp, giving perfect shots for the snipers to ply their trade and eliminated them to a man.

"Did your general send us more aid?" Stradas asked as a missile shot up in to the sky then rocked down to create an earth shaking kaboom

"He hasn't given me an update on anything that could do that." Jack said picking up his snooper to get a better look at the battle.

A Skinnie ran from of the top of the hill, arms in the air wildly gesticulating and shouting at the top of his lungs. From behind, something large crested the hill a moment later. "Holy fucking hell. Eva muttered awestruck as the 9 foot tall green Robot fired it's twin MGs into the back of the fleeing Skinnie turning his body to chunky salsa.

A group of Skinnies opened up on it with their Boneshard rifles, and it simply turned and aimed its massive right arm at them and roasted them alive in a wash of flame from its flamer.

"What is that?" Stradas asked as the machine began moving down the hill toward the ship, killing anything that got in its way, which was damn few thanks to the snipers.

"That's the XM-550 Cybernetic Humanoid Assault System Robot." Ben called from where he had been standing further down the line, he had several Turian around him also looking at the green giant, "Also known as a C.H.A.S Unit, a thinking learning machine designed to do one thing; go were normal troopers can not." The CHAS unit arrived at the base of the hill.

"It's going to set off the mines!" A Turian sergeant shouted in alarm.

"No it's not, the CHAS unit has sensors for that. It won't be fooled by them." Ben said as he started climb over the trench wall and step forward. The last thing they needed it to do was start a friendly fire incident once it killed all the Skinnies.

It didn't take long for the Robot to reach the other side, after all of that, it and nary a scratch with only burn marks and chips on the paint. Ben stopped short of the minefield, "Hey Titanium man, slow up."

The machine stopped, looking at Ben then asked in the familiar robotic voice all CHAS Units shared. "Lance Corporal Ben Hislop, retired, formerly of Garcia's Gaters power suit Company?"

"Never Forget."

"What are you doing with these aliens?" The machines asked the question like it would determine if people would die, it probably did.

"Allies, Skinnies shot them down. So why don't you give us a bit of an update on the situation outside this lovely cornfield."

The machine stared him down, after a few minutes of processing it spoke, "Affirmative, Ammunition levels are below 20% do you have resupply? I wish to squash more meat bag Skinnie slavers."

"I'm sure we can find you something." Ben commented as Eva, Jack and Stradas came up to take look at their new friend.

Stradas looked it over and asked "You said this thing is a thinking learning machine, do you mean this Robot is a Artificial Intelligence?" Something about the way he asked the question made the three Terrans look at each other.

In the glance they knew the best answer, but Eva said it before the others, "We're not at liberty to say."

~[==|==]~

**East Federation territory, Shanxi, northern line, April/26/2329 AD**

Sergeant Major Erich Hanna Wald huddled against a brick wall that had been part of some pizzeria until it had been destroyed by a Bigfoot artillery strike. Which would probably increase the property values around this neighborhood since the place had been left to rot for years, and was creepy as all hell.

Erich flipped his coin hoping for heads, he caught mid air and found it to be so, "Well looks like I'm going to live at least another hour."

The battle on the northern front had turned into house to house combat, perhaps floor to floor Stalingrad style, room to room. He hadn't seen any members of his platoon let alone his Company since last night, they had been scattered by the repeated attacks by the Skinnies and up to the last couple hours he been hanging about with some Power Suit Troopers, but they got separated during the bombardment. The Skinnies had been pushing hard since this morning trying to break the line and he had nearly run out of ammo.

He was seriously contemplating picking up one of the Skinnie guns. At least he could get ammo for them.

He was about to flip the coin again when he heard foot steps, looking up he saw a quartet of Skinnies coming out from their hiding spots pointing there guns at him, "Human surrender and you live."

"As a slave of course." Erich commented getting up leaving his rifle on the ground.

"Of course." the Skinnie affirmed, his face hidden behind a visor.

"Yeah not a fan of that… but how about a game of chance eh?" Erich began holding up the coin, "Heads I surrender, tails I go down fighting?"

"You really have no choice in the matter." The Skinnie hefted the gun to make the point clear.

"OH I know that, but I'm generally lucky about games like this." He flipped the coin high into the air, he waited just long enough for it to reach the apex, as all of the idiots watched it like any good person did, then he drew his quick drawed his pistol and put two in the lead Skinnie's chest, another though the visor, and a third in the gut of the third before they reacted.

The fourth fired his bone shard rifle, cutting deep painful wounds in Erich's side, Erich responded by putting the last bullet in the alien's forehead. Erich fell back against the brick wall his blood leaking out on the floor, he put a few more round in the Skinnie bodies, making sure they were dead before he lost the ability to hold his pistol. He dimly wondered what happen to his coin before he lost consciousness and face planted into the creepy tile flooring.

~[==|==]~

**East Federation territory, Shanxi, eastern line, April/26/2329 AD**

Ailis Pedersen set up a camera on a tripod and made sure the lens was clean and the mechanics were undamaged. Once she was satisfied, she pulled her helmet off and picked up her microphone, stepped in front of the camera her helpful assistant turned it on.

"This is Ailis Pedersen, Federation News Network reporting on the Siege of Shanxi, three days ago a massive Skinnie raider fleet assaulted this planet without reason or provocation. As usual. They destroyed most of the local defense fleet and if not for the stubborn determination of the planet commander, General Williams and the guile of the Fleet Commander Erica Chaves, the population would already be on their way to the slave markets. Thankfully, Williams was able to hold the planet and the unit I'm attached to, T'Phai's Tawns, were able to launch a daring night assault that I quote from the General himself, 'Kicked the shit out of the unsuspecting bastards'."

"The enemy has since then focused their assault on the north of the city trying to open the beach head wider, but from what I have been able to learn, General Williams has authorized all efforts to be used to stop them, from artillery bombardment to nuclear assets." She left out that the Skinnie had already breached the city several times from what she been able to learn, but after years of war, Fednet news reports had to gloss over the little defeats. Of course she tried to ignore the fact that if this planet fell it would be considered a "Little Defeat" and her death or enslavement would be glossed or forgotten.

"The current victories should be partly attributed to Fleet Commander Erica Chaves, for her heroic action in destroying a significant portion of the enemy's ground troops before they even got the chance to taste Terran bullets."

"Hopefully we can hold out long enough that the Skinnies decide they got their fill of death and wasted time on this assault on Federation worlds and freedoms. Of course I just hope I get to live long enough to actually broadcast this. For anyone getting this live now, know that help IS on the way, and soon I hear." They also had been rather non committal about where it was coming from, but it was probably a Terran fleet, which meant the closest one was two to three weeks away, unless they got lucky and a patrol fleet just happened to be around the galactic corner.

She was about to try and make a humorous joke about the weather, say something falsely patriotic for those ironic laughs, or even call up some people for interviews on their opinion, or some other news, she could always edit this footage after to take out her pauses, when the gunfire started.

"Oh fuck!" She grabbed her helmet off the ground and shoved it on, running for her camera and pulled it off the tripod. She then ran for the metal ramp and charged up the wall, wanting to get footage of what was going on, show something exciting to those poor souls stuck in those underground bunkers. On the top of the wall she saw light troopers unloading their firepower downrange. She linked the camera to her visor and saw through it, an army of over sized Skinnies built like bodybuilders and carrying either disruptor glaives or weapon that looked like they needed to be mounted on vehicles charging the wall. Several of the Brutes carrying mass drivers stopped and opened up with their cannons, destroying bricks and cement, but the wall held firm this time.

Ailis ducked and grabbed a rifle from a fallen trooper then peaked over the wall. The Brutes were running through the hail of fire almost like it was a light rain, there was some of them falling of course, but not enough. Then the Tawn riders came out of the horde, the riders were not much different than the brutes, maybe a bit smaller but still built, but the Tawns were a terrifying mix of horse and komodo dragon. The scaly beast quickly ran ahead of the horde and then began climbing up the goddamn wall with their clawed paws.

"Oh fuck this shit. I don't want to pull a Jaun Rico on this fucker!" Ailis Leaned over and began firing the rifle down the on the beast, she managed to kill the rider who had been about to aim it's Boneshard Pistol at her, but the beast kept climbing. It was about to crest the wall when it exploded into cooked meaty chunks.

"I always wondered which was more deadly." Sergeant Roch commented hefting his Triple Thud Grenade Launcher and firing it into a second Tawn.

"What a grenade launcher or a Tawn?" Ailis asked, confused.

"No, us Tawn verse the real thing." He fired again into another tawn. More of her company charged up the walkway to reinforce the wall and the brutes started throwing grappling hooks, as useless a tactic that was for a large defensive structure with the enemy literally firing down on their heads. She didn't care how ripped you were, a headshot and your dead or dropping down to the ground below.

The brutes started climbing, though some of them started to use there disruptor glaives as crow bars on the damaged plating and concrete, as she watched a hole in the wall was opened through literal brute strength, "Well I hope you're happy with your answer. To my live viewers, hope you're enjoying the look of this, and I sincerely hope you get to hear me again." She fired into the brutes as they charged on.

Roch took one look at that and replied, "Yeeesssssss~" Then fired his grenade launcher into the crowd, chuckling darkly as a geyser of blood responded to his attack.

~[==|==]~

**East Federation territory, Shanxi, command center, April/26/2329 AD**

General Williams watched the holo map intently as the forces in the east buckled, but did not break. It was thanks to the Tawns and their Exo suits that they were holding the flank against the muscled reserves the Skinnies unleashed. If they held out against this attack they may be able to hold out the few weeks necessary for reinforcements to arrive, however they would still have to sacrifice parts of the city to looting. An acceptable outcome, they wouldn't get far with that loot anyways.

They would just have to be careful and make sure the civilians were moved out and trap many of the buildings to add the extra casualties.

Looking at the map he tried to understand the strategy behind this. He thought they would attack the north harder, perhaps the east to draw forces there. That was until the double doors to the command center burst open and three red power suited Skinnies rushed in.

Williams had just enough time to pull his pistol before a dagger hit him in the shoulder. He fell to the ground and a Skinnie jumped on him ripping the dagger out of his shoulder and raising his blade ready to stab Williams in the heart. One of his staff pulled his own gun and shot the intruder in the face, shattering the visor.

One of the other intruders retaliated by shoving his short blade into the man's gut but before he could cause more harm a trooper who had been battered by the double doors hosed him down with automatic fire. The last red armored Skinnie attempted to close the distance, but the Trooper who had been on the other side of the door tackled him from behind and went to work on him with his combat knife, resulting in an explosive geyser of blue blood when his neck was slit with anger.

Williams sat up, slightly dazed and looked at the Skinnie who nearly taken his life, the red suited guard sat up, and Williams got his first look at what a guard looked like. It skin was a dark green and leathery, it's head shape was not the standard tall, but more compact and swept back.

It's face was terrifying it had no lips only teeth and it's eyes seemed to glow orange with malice, not the soulless black most Skinnies had. It roared as it tried to get up, but Williams raised his pistol and shot the face twice, It crumpled and stayed down this time.

"Sir are you alright?" One of his staff asked, helping him up.

"YES!" He hissed out in pain, the knife hurt like hell and hopefully was not poisoned, but he needed to get the situation under hand before he let them take him to the hospital. "Someone explain to me who FUCKED UP!?" He demanded.

A trooper who had rushed in from hallway reported, "Sir these three snuck in through an air vent and rushed through the hallway for this room. They must have killed the troopers they came across with their blades so we didn't know they had gotten in."

"BULLSHIT! Those air-vents are a foot by two big! And these fuckers don't look like small children. I want you to double check all entranceways and have all guard stations report in like they are supposed to! How did the cameras not pick them up! And get a damn medic in here we got wounded." He pointed to his staffer who was holding the short sword in his gut, his knee went out and he stumbled holding on to the table, he was losing a lot of blood from his shoulder wound, "for that matter can someone get me one too?" He whispered before slipping to the ground.

~[==|==]~

**East Federation territory, Shanxi system, THS **_**Hierarchy's Fist**_**, 2657GS April/26/2329 AD**

Rear Admiral Albirus Varlikam sat watching space return to its normal view again as his ship entered the Terran system for the second time. However he was not in charge, Vice Admiral Gainus was in change this time, most likely to give him one last hurrah before retiring.

"Sir we are on course for Shanxi, the Terran ships are requesting the honor of leading the spearhead."

"Good, are we receiving anything from the planet?"

"Nothing at us. I don't think the enemy has detected us yet, which makes sense from what we were informed by Commodore Chavez, but I am receiving signals from the planet that indicate there are forces still fighting on it."

"We got here in time then."

"Sir, Vice Admiral Gainus is broadcasting a messages on all channels."

"Put him on." Albirus was interested to hear what the official statement would be since he had kept it to himself since he arrived at the relay.

"This is Vice Admiral Kalio Gainus of the Second Turian Expedition, those known as 'Skinnies' in the Terran tongue must stop their attack now, and hand over Lord Tel'Rock to face justice in Turian courts for crimes committed here. If you do not comply we will prosecute war on your barbarous people until Lord Tel'Rock is dead or captured for piracy, murder, and anything else he has done or will do in the process of this informal war he started. I ask you to consider your position carefully."

~[==|==]~

**East Federation territory, Shanxi, ****Petolemaic eastern line, ****April/26/2329 AD**

General Projak listened to the message again and cursed, he had been worried about the aliens returning, but he had hoped it would have been weeks later maybe just in time to take the blame from the Terran reinforcements, but now he had to face facts, these aliens were pissed and coming for his boss' head. He got on the coms and called Lord Tel'Rock, it didn't take him long to answer. "General what is happening! Why has the aliens returned with such a large fleet so quickly?"

"I have no idea my lord, but we must disengage and retreat from this failed endeavor, we lack the forces to deal with them."

"We cannot show the enemy cowardice! We must fight-" It was this point where Projak snapped, he could deal with Skinnie tendencies to be feudal tribals, but he could not, no he would not, deal with warrior code bullshit.

"Now listen here you fool, there is no cowardice in abandoning the fight when it is already lost, we have three options ahead of us; you turn yourself in and watch your empire crumble from an alien's prison cell, retreat to fight another day, or die fighting a hopeless battle knowing that I left with my guard and will take your throne when I get back home."

"You would not dare-"

"I dare, but I don't need too. I show up with my guard and am the only living person on the planet with an army they will declare me the king so fast you won't even be in the grave, but I don't want that, I don't want to deal with the political and administrative shit that is running an empire," Yet he did have plans, but he did not have the forces or strength he needed to accomplish them. "I'd rather serve under your command with free rein than be watched and criticized incessantly by a Hegemony council. So my lord I beg you to retreat now to Hegemony space and let the Terrans fuck up this relationship with these new aliens like they always do."

The line was quiet then his lord stated, "General Projak, prepare to retreat back to Lockhet."

"I will my lord."

"And when we get back we are going to have a long talk about proper etiquette on the battlefield."

~[==|==]~

To Be Continued.

~[==|==]~

Terran Gunsmith's Extraordinaire Codex edition, Volume 1:

Combat Knife: Standard issue combat knife. From the boy scouts to the greatest of Generals, the standard issue combat knife is both a practical utility, and a last ditch weapon.

Units produced: ~50,000,000,000 (50 Billion)

FedCom 401-GL "Triple GL" Grenade Launcher: The Triple GL is an oft used weapon system, mainly employed by specialized units. The TGL fires grenade tipped rounds at enemies, due to the wide variety of atmospheric, gravity, and even enemies the weapon must deal with, a trooper must be trained for all possibilities, drastically increasing training time. Hence why only specialized units are trained with this weapon.

Units produced: ~1,000,000,000 (1 Billion)


	9. Short Stories 1 Book one

side stories

Arachnid Empire territory, Klendathu, TFS Valley Forge April/22/2329 AD

Brigadier General Juan Rico watched the battle outside from the observation deck of the old Cruiser. From his position he could see several federation dreadnoughts engaged in battle with bug Super Colony Ships, trading laser for plasma. The kilometer long bugs were covered in thick carapace that resisted not only the laser, but nuclear weapons, meaning the dreadnoughts did little to actually damage the bug. They were there to hold the SCS' attention so the rest of the fleet could be safeguarded. It was up to the boarding parties to get deep inside and place a nuclear device near the bug's "engines" if you could call them that, if they wanted to take the SCSs out.

One of the SCS went up in nuclear fire, and the dreadnought that had been engaging it moved on to the next target. He hoped the troopers had made it off before detonation, back in the day when the roughnecks had been a Platoon and not a brigade and had been led by lieutenant Razak, they had barely escaped a similar operation. Looking past the battle he could see several Athena cruisers bombarding one of the three asteroids that acted as moons for Klendathu. They were home to colonies of plasma bugs and the last time the Fleet had attacked Klendathu, many ships had been shot at of the sky from those moving fortresses. Now the plan was to reduce them to nothing but rubble and use it to bombard thathellhole with its own moons.

Beyond the moons, the bugs only had a few ships in system, a couple colony ships, swarm carrier, a few Horned Destroyers with a Scorpion cruiser, and a massive Blister Battlecruiser. All 'n all a good selection of the bug fleet which had to be created when the Bug war started ten years ago. They were staying out of range of the much larger terran fleet, but they would need to be dealt with soon. Once all the present threats were cleared the entire Fleet would move into range of Klendathu and begin turning the surface of the planet into a burning wasteland, and hopefully nothing more than an atmosphere less rock so heavily irradiated it would boil the bugs in their shells.

Once the fire went down they would send in the troops to search the tunnels and do a clean sweep of any nest and queen who had survived the devastation. Even with the possibility there would be survivors of tunnel fighting with any luck this would effectively end the war, the leadership would be decimated and the empire would turn in on itself. If not well, they had still gotten a major moral victory for the civilians back home that would keep the war going for a few more years.

"General Rico Place report to the Command center" the electronic voice of the ship's AI called, taking Rico mind away from battle outside.

"Well this wont be good" he groused as he walked to the near by elevator and told it to take him to the commander center. A minute later he was at the Command Center which was bustling with activity. Officers were busy relaying orders and organizing ships for attacks on areas of interest, as he walked towards the holo-globe in the center of the command center he watched as Captain Shepard of the 67th Frigate Flotilla conversed with Commodore Uriah.

"Ah, General I'm glad you came so quickly." Commodore Uriah acknowledge as Rico came up to the table.

"I was watching the fireworks on the observation deck, always makes me happy to see a bug ship turn into a fireball." he commented with a smile, dropping the smile he asked, "Something wrong?"

"Yes." Captain Shepard stated, motioning the communication officer forward "At twenty two hundred hours we received a message from the planet, at first it was assumed it was old traffic from one of the Viking landing Boats automated distress signal, however-" the communication officer pressed a few battons and file began to play. "Gooood morning Klendathu! Its me, Colonel Leslie Kirkland to any Troopers fighting on Big K, remember you are Terran you never give up, and you never die, keep fighting and someday we will be rescued. We've fought too long to let the bugs wipe us out now. Just remember the blister bug meat is poisonous, Tanker bugs aren't worth hunting, and if you see a chance to free a shipment of our brothers and sister from bug control take it. We only live forever if some one's left to remember. Timestamp April 20th, 2329 goodnight and good luck."

"That was two days ago" Rico wanted to be shocked there was anyone left down there, the massacre had left miles of bodies, but the same reason he knew there were the miles of bodies was the same reason he knew some could be alive down there. After the battle, before the fleet had fled the system they had gotten signals from a fednet reporter as he wandered across the wasteland on the planet, the last signal to come from him had been group of warrior bugs watching him from a the distance, toying with him.

"Yes if that transmission to believed." the commodore looked less than convinced, "I think the bugs are trying to pull the wool over our eyes, try and gets us to not nuke the everliving crap out of the planet."

"They aren't." Rico replied, "This fits right in to the shit they will do." the commodore gave him a looked that said he found that hard to believe, "Remember Culath." that struck the cord with the admiral. It was hard to forget about how a Terran task force and colonists had nearly been wiped when half the humans on the planet had been turned into bug human abominations,, "The bugs know we don't like to kill our own so it makes sense to keep prisoners on their capital maybe even let a few wander the planet as sport."

"But how have they kept themselves supplied? Food and water can be acquired from the dead, but ammunition is not so easily recovered if it's left to sit for years in the desert without proper maintenance." the commodore asked finally starting to take the idea seriously.

"In case you forgot commodore, the first invasion included supplies to build forts, air and water recyclers, and lots of other equipment for maintenance, survival, and possibly even enough to make a true static base. Throw in six million weapons with accompanying ammo, and not all of it just in the hands of the rotting dead, and you have a situation where combined with the right support gear and enough manpower, they could hold out until they die of old age. We're hard to kill after all." When Rico attained the rank of general, he wanted to know why the first invasion had failed, so he studied up.

"So what are we going to do about this? We can't just call off the attack we risked too much with that alien device to turn back now." the captain asked.

"We save who we can." Rico said firmly, "Do we know where this Colonel Kirkland was transmitting from?" Rico asked the communication officer who nodded.

"Then we let them know help has arrived. Commodore, take your Destroyers and have them fly over the survivor center, broadcasting on all channels our intent. Captain, dig up the old authentication codes from the first invasion and play some music for the poor boys. But have the code playing in the frequency as well, the music will cover it and give the good Colonel the idea that we are telling the truth. Next ask for geographically stable areas where we can land and pick up the survivors. Make sure they are all checked out for any tag-alongs from the bugs. That should be good enough that we can rescue most if not all of them."

* * *

Arachnid Empire territory, Klendathu, Rocky Ring, April/22/2329 AD

Petty Officer Jake Silva messed with the radio he been trying to get working for the last 3 months. Before they had been forced to move from their last base, to this side of the lake they had had a good working radio but it had been damaged when Jake used it as a shield for a bug claw. He found most of the parts for this new one from the downed redhawk that had left him and his fellow survivors on this god forsaken rock, but other pieces he had to scavenge from the dead and other downed craft.

Luckily in a morbid sense, there was a lot of dead to go through, but even with that it took time to find all the undamaged, and clean off sand, parts he needed. He had finally found the last part in a semi functional landing boat.

It had been the scene of a massive fight when it first went down, if the bones and carapaces were anything to go by, but despite the damage he and the other engineers believed they could get it into working order if they bothered, too bad there was no where to go currently, so they used it as storage.

He tabbed through the channels to see which survivor bands were still kicking; there was Kirkland, the leader of one of the bigger bands of survivors, and a bitch. She'd been promoted by her dying commander and as the highest ranking commander on the planet she taken to thinking she was the leader of all Terrans, even though they really had no leaders. She just happen to find half of a downed Corvette with a working power supply and was able to broadcast signal all over the planet. At least she had a few writers in her band, they made for some stellar entertainment at times. And as much as he and his group ragged on her, The Kirkland Brigade always traded fair and were quick to lend a hand.

There was Jeremy, a religious nut job who was one of these day going to snap and try and say the bug queens were gods to his flock. Hopefully the flock would not be so brain dead to follow him and instead kill the bastard. But as much as Jake detested religion, a lot of men and women here on Klendathu had found it once more, and even made a damn church. His Lord's Killzone Church. Every week they count how many bugs they killed and offer it up to God as a show of devotion.

Sometimes he thought they didn't drink enough water, but hey, it was always fun to compare kill tallies through their station.

And then there was Cortez, the man who proclaimed himself King of Klendathu, and as far as Jake knew he had no subjects no followers and not a single piece of land with his name on it. The guy had just snapped one day after most of his group was slaughtered. He thought it was Bugs that got them, but some of the others in his group believed cannibalism had been involved since they had found a body with human teeth marks on the bones around the same time the "King" made his radio debut. Of course that was preposterous, there were plenty of bugs to eat on the planet. And they taste better than humans anyways.

He should know after all.

On the bright side the King was a funny sort and sometimes people weren't sure if he was joking or not, making such ridiculous claims as, "I decree all bugs shall get cake!" and his personal favorite, "Kirkland is a whiny bitch."

And that was about all he could contact right now, there were more active radio station across the planet with there own brand of survivors, but they were out of range of his little valley. Damn he really could have gone for the Weather Channel, they could tell him if any dust storms were brewing in his region.

"Hey Jake" Jake looked up from his work to see Corporeal Jo Howin looking in on him. His old raider armor patched up with warrior bug hides, sewed in place to strengthen the armor.

"Hey Howin whats up?" Jake asked sitting back in the old pilot seat he had taken from downed Skyhook.

"Hunting parties are back, we got good meat tonight." the Trooper commented leaning his gun against the door jam,

"What'd they catch?" Jake asked suspicious since there never was any good meat on this hell hole.

"FireFries."

"Fuck it all, I'll starve." Jake said over exaggerating, he really did hate firefry meat it was stringy and tasted like something you fed your cat if you hated it, the only saving grace was it was it was spicy hot, but of course if you eat too much you spend the day digging a new lutrin as you filled the old one. However he knew he had to eat it he was just going to make a fuss since it was routine that lightened the mood.

"Come on Jake it ain't that bad." Howin stated a little too quickly.

Jake looked at him suspiciously and asked pointedly, "How much Tiger Bug jerky do you have hidden"

Howin looked back and said with a sly grin, "Enough that I can give you some tonight if you end that line of questions."

"Deal!" Jake got up to shake Howin's hand and bumped the radio tuner, moving a few centimeters, and right as Howin took his hand a clear signal Jake had never her before came through.

"This is Commander Pressly, captain of the Valley Forge, to all Terrans trapped on Klandathu your ride home has finally come. Please respond in the next twenty two hours for pick up, if you don't you will join the bugs in the nuclear holocaust."

Jake looked down at the radio in shock then looked up to see Howin was in the same state, in that split second Jake made a choice, "Get the others up now."

"What?" Howin asked in momentary confusion.

"I said go wake up the lazy scumbags we call friends, I'm going to tell the fuckers in space where to pick us up and the bugs are going to hear me and come running, we need every Trooper ready to fight those mother fucking bugs back until they arrive." Howin nodded and headed for the door tripping over his rifle in his rush and nearlying knocking himself out, "Walk it of land lover" Jake called directly. He picked up the radio and composed himself and gave Howin a few minutes to get the Troopers up while he linked the radio to the makeshift emergency tower they had.

He knew the reason why the bugs let them survive as long as they had and it wasn't some unknown sadistic streak or laziness, no, not long after the terrans had been left here they had started to seen a new kinda bug they had named the overseer, a flying armored brain bug. They would watch the battles, but before finishing the Terrans off they would call the warriors back.

They had been using the Terrans trapped here as live practice for their bug commanders, and by calling for aid they would break what ever treaty the bugs had imposed on them. 'Well fuck better to die with gun in the hand fighting then eating that shity bug meat'. Jake thought as he opened an open broadcast channel, "This Jake Silva Of the Rocky Ring survivors calling for aid, the bugs will be on us with in the hour, I am relaying the location of the valley we're in now. Over. If anyone can hear us and don't have a two way radio, move here now, we need every rifle and every launcher we can get! Over." he read out their location then waited, thankfully not to long.

"Roger that Rocky Ring survivors we will dispatch troops and ships to your location, how many of you boys are at your location. Over." a female voice responded.

"we got forty, I repeat forty survivors here, but we won't last long if you don't get here right now! We aren't in exactly the best of defensive locations. How ever that number may change if more survivor bands come to our location. Last I heard there was at least a dozen different bands in our area of comparable size. Over." to the radio operator who was responding to him, she thought he sounded like he won the lottery. Well technically he did in this case.

"Duly noted prepare for pick up."

Jake dropped his mic and ran out into the hull of the old insta fort construction, grabbing his shotgun from next to his makeshift desk. Several troopers ran past him pulling on their armor some of them plaited with tiger warrior chitin, others just warrior hide. Howin ran up tossing Jake his old raider armor. "Thought you could use this."

"Thanks." Jake said strapping it on to himself, he walked toward the wall of their little community, "You better give me that Tiger Jerky now."

"Ah, but were going to get off this rock, don't you want to save room for the steak dinner waiting for us?" Howin asked

Jake smiled "Yes, but I'll kill better with a full stomach and that's the best meat on the planet. And besides the only thing I'll miss about this planet is that meat." Howin noded and handed him a bag of jerky and Silva wasted no time biting a chunk off and chewing it down. "Besides eating gets in the way of my other favorite past time." he walked up the ramp to the wall. They could already hear the screaming of warrior bugs alongside the chatter of rifles firing from small bands of survivors flocking to them, or just those unlucky who weren't close enough to to reach them, but too far away to hope to get picked up that way.

"Drinking?" Howin guessed, remembering the moonshine they could occasionally make when they get the right materials.

"Close." he leveled his shotgun over the edge as the first warrior party came running towards them hot on the heels of a band of at least two dozen Terrans running full sprint towards their outer defences, "It's drinking while skirt chasing fleet girls." the other troopers opened up, bringing down the warriors, but more came, wave after wave, and Jake smiled like a mad man as he stood on the wall unloading his shotgun into the oncoming horde. The bugs steadily began tearing the walls apart and began climbing there dead.

"Come on you green blooded bastards, this the best you got?!" Jake yelled as he tossed his empty shotgun, it's barrel red from non stop use, and leaned over to picked up a rifle an ammo runner brought him. Luck was on his side as a hopper flew over him at that moment, slicing several trooper head from there bodies.

Jake striated and and leveled the rifle he using the shotgun that converted standard Rifle ammo into a flechette spray,and waited for the hopper to try again blowing it from the sky.

He leveled his rifle to fire into the pit of claws before the wall when five thunderhawks flew over head, dropping bombs in the horde frying the bugs. A pair of Slingshots guarded by two Fire Foxes came landing inside their walled base, several troopers in armor that made the frankenstein's armor look shittier than normal stepped out covering the landing area.

Jake spared no time jumping from the wall like all the other rushing for the rescue boats, unfortunately an old friend decided to get in Jake's way.

A white burrow worm burst through the ground in front of Jake with a roar, rows of spine like teeth presented themselves to Jake. "Ah El Blanco thought you'd never show your ugly face, well this time I'm ready! You shitty maggot!" pulling two grenades from his back he tossed them into the open mouth, "Eat this!"

Everything was immediately coated in orange gore, dripping and slipping in the orange fluid. Jake ran headlong towards the open hatch, and slipped and cracked his exposed head against the hydraulic lift for the boarding ramp. Falling unconscious, he felt himself dragged into the ship.


	10. Chapter 9 Book one (9-9-16)

Chapter 9

Edited by a person of many names Blood Raven AKA TimedRaven117. Go check out his story Mass Effect: X-Com Theory!

* * *

**East Federation territory, Shanxi system, above the eastern line, April/26/2329 AD**

Private Velupillai Floculus checked over his weapons once more. He, like most of the Turians aboard the landing boat, had very little intelligence on what was happening. He knew that they were here to reinforce a new friendly species from a hostile one. He also knew what the Humans looked like, but he had no idea what the aggressor species looked like.

He did know the basic strategic situation; the enemy was already in the process of withdrawing from the besieged city, they had taken heavy casualties, the Humans weren't in much of a position to keep up the counter attack alone, and that the _Skinnie_s command staff was isolated. The fleet should be chasing them but apparently one group was still attacking the Humans, so the fleet was deploying ground units with limited aerospace support, to beat off the enemy counter attack.

Velupillai looked up when the sergeant called the last minute check before landing. He took a deep breath and prepared to let his training take over, he didn't know what would be outside the craft when he the doors open, but he was sure they would win, with the expertise of the Humans, and fresh soldiers like himself leading the charge, the _Skinnies_ would crumble. They were Turians, they were the best military in the galaxy, nothing could stand up to them.

The landing boat came to a stop, defense guns suppressing anything that didn't look Human. Doors opened up and ropes deployed for the Turian point squad as they jumped out in groups of six sliding, to the ground. Velupillai was the third man out on his rope and landed in the slowly expanding battle square, making room for the large lander to land properly to release the mechanized elements of their company.

The first thing he saw of the world was torn up soil and rock, and the dead. The field was literally carpeted in corpses. It reminded him of the photos of the krogan rebellions. They could only see so far though as the air was clogged with smoke and dust.

"Anyone got sight of hostiles?" He heard someone question, as his sergeant pulled off the landing beacon and set it down.

It was then the enemy showed themselves, towering three meter giants as wide as krogan and wearing cloth robes rushed out of the smoke. They came with deafening screams and wielding some kind of glowing bladed weapons. In response the landing craft and the Turians facing that way opened up, staggering the charge with their assault rifles.

However the _Skinnie_ came in a tide of flesh and green robes. One of them, carrying what looked like a cannon, fired a shot that caused the landing craft to spin out. It tried to return to its position, but three more shots caused the craft to fall from the sky, billowing smoke. Crashing thirty feet away from the battle square.

Then riders came out of the dust storm riding massive beasts, lizard like creatures that shrugged off the sand grain sized projectiles from their weapons.

Snipers went to work on the riders and the beasts seem to lose control, turning on fellow mounts, but it was insufficient to stop them all, and groups of three riders impacted the square in several places, letting their mounts try and tear the Turians limb from limb. The experienced marines didn't make it easy though, as the second line of Turians brought out their shotguns and brought the beasts down, a few even using primed grenades spun down their throats. The Turians run over by the riders were not in that bad of shape, their armor taking most of the damage, however the break in fire output had allowed the Skinnies to close the distance.

They brought weapons to bear, glowing glaives ignoring armor and barriers equally.

Velupillai shot a _Skinnie,_ and grabbed his glaive. His rifle overheating at the last kill. To his surprise the glaive ripped right through the _Skinnie's_ chest, tearing out organs and massive amounts of gore.

"The glaives! Use their glaives!" He yelled out victoriously, not sure if he just sent that message to his squad or the entire planet as he began to use the glaive to cut into the oncoming enemy using it like an ancient pike.

Several of his comrades heard him apparently as they grabbed up the enemy's fallen weapons and began cutting into the ill disciplined horde as well. The battle was starting to favor the Turians weight of fire and skill, then what had to be the Champion of the _Skinnie_ rushed out of the smoke, it carried two glaives with their handles cut in half, twirling them around his body and killing any poor soldier who came into his path.

Velupillai made to hold him off, hoping his squad would help him by shooting the bastard in the back. Unfortunately, this _Skinnie _was much more proficient in the weapon's use, and with ease he parried his strike and with speed that amazed the veteran, easily slicing his arm off.

Falling to the ground his opponent looked poised to end his life, when some fast moving object collided with it. Velupillai blinked as the enemy took a couple steps back as the grey armored object got up to its feet. The figure reached onto it's back and pulled off a rod that extended and ignited electric sparks from twin prongs at one end, the _Skinnie_ said something and the figure titled it's head, the armored individual said something in its own tongue as he prepared a duelist's stance, the figure picked up the weapon in Velupillai lost arm. "_Hope you don't mind me taking this off your hand?_" He imagined that's what the armored figure said to his blood starved mind.

Velupillai barely noticed another grey clad soldier appeared at his side and used some kind of expanding foam to seal the hole his arm used to go through. Looking over he saw there were more Grey clad troopers and mechs coming out of the smoke storm from the direction of the city, as if magic the smoke lifted from their forms and revealed the city edge.

Some of the _Greys_ were helping to clear out the area, the others, marked with red intersecting barslines, were seeing to the wounded with the foam or assisting Turian medics as best they could. He was glad to see that there was only a few of the his comrades that had permanently fallen, "Hey you still in there?" The figure said moving a hand in front of his eyes, her voice sounded funny and tinny, like she was using a shitty translator.

"Ya." Velupillai replied as the standoff between the _Skinnie_ and the _Grey_ ended in a headlong charge at each other, at the last moment the _Grey_ activated jets on its back and jumped over the _Skinnie_ champion, using the staff to electrocute the _Skinnie's_ back screaming in rage.

The _Grey_ turned and used the glaive to block both attacks then she shocked the champion's leg making it take a knee. The _Grey_ used that moment to chop one of the _Skinnie's_ hands off.

In full control of the entire engagement, the _Grey_ shocked it again, forcing it to release the grip on his other hand, the _Skinnie_ in desperation tried to wrap his arm around the shocking weapon. But he had failed already, and his arm was sliced off.

The _Grey_ roared out in anger. Ending the engagement, the prong of the shocking weapon was forced right into the _Skinnie's_ wide eye socket.

Velupillai fought off vomiting as the wretched stench of fried eyes and brain matter reached his olfactory sense. The _Grey _soldier pulled off its helmet, revealing an Asari like face of what he knew as a Human Female. Smiling at him with a very satisfied look she mock saluted him, said something he could never hope to translate, and stalked off, joining the execution of the enemy wounded.

Velupillai looked to the Terran next to him and asked, "What did she say?

The Human shrugged and said, "Need a hand?"

* * *

**East Federation territory, Shanxi system, leaving the system, April/26/2329 AD**

Tel'Rock looked at the screen of the planet that had withstood the Petolemaic Hegemony in anger. Years of planning, preparations, and alliance building had gotten him in the position to launch this historic attack and now they were all for not.

He would lose all the influence he had on the Hegemony council, but he was sure it would take a few years to build up to the levels he had before this failure and in that time who knew what would happen.

"My lord, the last of our ships are leaving the planet now, we evacuated 90% of your personal forces, and about 30% of the other forces. Many of the commanders not under your purview refused to retreat."

"Fools, they will be dead by the end of the day." He muttered hoping none survived, it would be hard to make case that a withdraw was needed if they survived and managed to get something of value from the planet. Impossible of course, he had all the ships, and he doubted the Federation would be that stupid enough to let them escape.

Projak was probably right, damn his soul, the Terran would screw up what relationship they were building with these "Turians", but that was not good enough. Looking over to his comms slave, he ordered, "I want a few ships to break from the fleet when we leave system and come back and scan the device the Turians used to enter the system."

He didn't know what it was or where it came from but if there was one, he knew there were more, perhaps there was one in the Petolemaic Hegemony that led into the Turians territory, if so he would reap his revenge on them. A smile came to his face as he imagined fleets of ships flying from all over the Hegemony to use the device. It wouldn't even take much to unleash slave raids and Tribal migrations on the Turians territory, just place a rumor here and there about unknown worlds free for the taking.

Little did he know, that both would be suicidal, and ultimately doomed to failure.

* * *

**East Federation territory, Shanxi system, Crash site, April/26/2329 AD**

Jack ducked as another volley of fire scythed over the trench. "I thought the Skinnies were retreating!" A Turian complained as he ducked down to avoid the death happening a mere few feet above him.

"These Skinnies must be the dumbest motherfuckers I've ever seen! That or they think they can get off world using your ship." Ben replied as a speeder craft tried to fly over the mine field in a bold attack.

It exploded in the face of a rocket, long before they reached them, scattering the survivors into the mine field and setting off a few more.

"These guys have no military order at all, how are they a problem for your government?" The Turian asked as he fired over the lip of the trench.

"THEY AREN'T! Fuck, that was close, they use massed attacks in the tens of thousands and slightly better tech to raid us! An attack of this scale hasn't happened before." Ben replied miserably as he cleaned dirt off his weapon, shaking it off good so it wouldn't jam his rifle.

"Ben!" Jack yelled in annoyance.

"What?! That shit is taught in School for Christ's sake, It's not exactly classified." Ben said, taking some pot shots at a Skinnie raider who rushed the line. The Skinnie fell under the fire but it inspired another speeder to rush the line, this one managed to get a good deal further, before it blew up by the Turian lasers, sending the rider flying over the trench and onto some razor wire, screaming as he was slowly encumbered into it and ripped to shreds.

"They're depleting the field!" Eva Core said as several more speeders attempted suicidal charges, two did worse, however one managed drive right into the lines. the rider started to fire at the Turians who stuck their heads out, striking their Kinetic Barriers which took the bullets in stride. The Turians fired back killing the Skinnie and bringing him down with sniper fire. That was lucky, those shields were good, but their armor was worse than light trooper armor, made to absorb impacts. The significantly larger rounds used by the Skinnie's was not even slowed down by the armor.

"This is just great, when are reinforcement going to get here?" Jack demanded.

"60 SECONDS!" The CHAS said, as it duel wielded a pair of squad support weapons in its metal hands, having run out of ammo for its main weapons, gunning down any Skinnie it saw get in its range.

"And how do you know that?" Ben asked.

"I'm detecting several aircraft coming in from the north." It announced proudly as he blew apart a Skinnie who stuck its head out a bit too long.

Everyone including the Turians nearby spared a glance north and they could just barely see dark dots in the northern sky.

With a cheer that the Skinnies swore shook the hills, the fire towards the Skinnies intensified. It proved to be the enemies undoing, as they were now suppressed sufficiently for the Bombers overhead to get static targets.

"Well about time." Ben commented with a bit of relief.

As the bombers came over from the north alongside a few Turian gunships, the Skinnie offensive was annihilated. With a cheering that any would consider deafening, Jack looked on in approval at the burning hills, "Congratulations Ladies and Gentlemen, this will forever be known as Turian Point!"

* * *

**East Federation territory, Shanxi system, Orbit , April/26/2329 AD**

Vice Admiral Kalio Gainus sat in his captain's chair, looking over the reports from the planet; the Skinnies had evacuated the planet rather quickly, and not in a blind rush as he had assumed these barbarians would do but in a basic military order, not a good military order, but nonetheless disciplined in their manner. Of course assuming that their raiding tendencies were correct, then that's no big surprise.

It almost convinced him that they weren't totally backwards tactically and strategically, of course those "Brutes" had been an ill disciplined lot, but considering their equipment, he wouldn't be surprised if the enemy commander just decided to use them as an effective distraction to keep the Terran's from overrunning his retreat. The tough bastards were still holding out in isolated pockets across the city, and even with fresh Turian soldiers, they were still making a fight of it.

The brutes had been the first taste of combat for the ground troopers and it was a mixed bag. The losses were minimal mostly, but the use of those disruptor weapons which completely ignored their shields gave pause to his ground forces, showing that the Skinnie tech was not something to be trifled with, despite their barbaric tendencies. They may be barbarians, but they were barbarians with nukes, a dangerous combination.

Realizing he didn't really know if they had nukes he decided it was time to contact the Terran Commodore, and discuss an introduction with the Federation to the Council. He called to his communication officer to set up a secure channel to the Commodore.

It didn't take long to get the Terran on the phone, if he had to guess, she was waiting for the call. The Terran appeared on a screen on the bridge, though she appeared to be at her command station, he noted she was drinking tea again and he worried about the new influx of addictive goods that could be traded.

The Terran put down her tea and smiled awkwardly, "Vice Admiral a pleasure to see you, I have just heard from Brigadier General Williams of the Mobile Infantry Garrison, your soldiers are doing a wonderful job of mopping up the remaining Skinnies."

"Yes I'm getting similar reports from my forces, it looks like the matter of Shanxi will be settled within the day." He leaned over and picked up a drink he had on his chair, "Which brings me to the next issue that needs to be sorted out."

"Next Issue?" The Terran lowered the Tea from where she had been holding and looked at him suspiciously.

"Yes, an issue the Turian Hierarchy is more than willing to pass on, what with the war on these Skinnies, the Turian Hierarchy is only one third of a much bigger governmental body. We're what you could say is the military and police, and our civic leaders are going to want to talk with you about certain matters and treaties."

The Terran commodore nodded, "Alright so I take it you want to get a representative to go with you?"

Kalio looked at her keenly and stated "You could be the one, though I assume that your government would much rather prefer to send a trained diplomat, or someone in power such as the Sky Marshals you mentioned."

The Terran's face seemed to pale a bit, and he wondered what that was about. "The sky Marshals can't meet with your government, there was an incident a few years back, that resulted in a lot of problems, as a result we're a lot more careful with our leadership, as for a trained diplomat, I'm not sure we have any available at this time."

Kalio looked at her dumbfounded, "Define not sure."

"Well … We haven't NEEDED true diplomats for decades, we got Internal Resources and SICON who handle most of the interplanetary negotiations between our various political factions, but we don't exactly have any trained for this kind of situation. Most of the time whenever we meet a new species they try to kill us, and we try to kill them back in return, and it gets lost from there." Taking another sip of her tea, she added, "But, I'm sure SICON can get you a true representative who is invested with some decision making powers by the end of next month, if not sooner."

Kalio nodded, and asked, "That is a little longer then I think they would like to wait on this issue, is there any way to get a diplomat sooner?"

The Terran shook her head, "As I said, never needed a true diplomat for decades, there is nothing I know of that can make this happen sooner, other than directly taking your councilors to our representatives. What's the rush anyways? We will need time to set up a meeting, the venue, other diplomatic crap, learn your languages directly so we won't need to rely on flawed translators, and to appraise my own government on the whole situation in the first place. And we have so many documents to exchange in the first place, like setting out our borders, culture, language, and other nonclassified stuff."

Kalio nodded in understanding, "I think that should hold them over for your requested time. And you're right, there shouldn't be a rush, after all the Citadel Council has never been known for doing things quickly."

* * *

**Citadel Space, Citadel, Citadel Tower 2657GS April/30/2329 AD**

Councilor Gallius sat at the the wooden table looking over the reports, waiting for the other councillors to arrive. Vice Admiral Gainus had done as ordered and recovered the planet, AND he even gave the Skinnies the chance to resolve it peacefully like Tevos had requested. Granted it was a rather hostile demand, giving over the leader of that attack was never going to happen, but it was respectable attempt.

The fact they were going to have to wait to meet the Terrans in person was taxing the other councillors patience, which was ridiculous considering the history of the species they just met. But they were very interested in meeting them and finding out for themselves what kind of aliens they were. Thankfully the reports the Terrans had sent along would help with that… unfortunately it also raised some concerns all on there own, and even if they wanted to turn a blind eye to this region they couldn't anymore.

One of their exploration vessels had finally gotten around to figuring out where they were in the galaxy and it was not good. It was the Skyllian Verge, the large portion of space claimed by the Batarians. It was half the current size of citadel space and they had taken their time colonizing that region of space so it was understandable why they had yet to meet the others in the region.

Gallius didn't like the Batarians and he doubted any of the other councilors did either, but they were useful tools to keep the terminus systems at bay when they weren't actively cultivating ties with slaver and pirate groups out there, that being said he didn't like the idea of the Terrans and the Batarians meeting.

The Terrans already have a problem with one species and their raiding tendencies. If the Batarians ever provoked the Terrans he had no idea where the public would land on the issue. And he had a sinking feeling the Terrans wouldn't take an apology and the return of prisoners with compensation. He had a feeling they would react to raids with nuclear violence.

Before he could get too deep in to hoping the Terran-Batarian War didn't turn out to be the biggest pain in the ass in the universe, Tevos and Cenike entered the room.

"Peace or War? What was decided?" Tevos asked jumping on the biggest issue on the agenda.

Gallius went ahead and explained, "Yes and No. The aggressor has been beaten off with relatively light casualties on our side, we failed to capture any of the leaders, but the Humans, or Terrans, are thankful for our assistance for scaring off the foes. We are currently using some emergency funds to help supply the planet with raw materials so it can recover. I would like to follow the 'Skinnie' to their home world, but their ships are faster, longer ranged, and don't rely on the Relay network just like the Terrans-."

"What!?" Councilor Cenike said in surprise, and it just dawned on Gallius that he had forgotten to mention that detail before.

"I… well this is embarrassing." He muttered under his breath before he began, "Remember when I said we assumed because they had no element zero we they were new? Well according to the Terrans, themselves, the Skinnie, and at least three other semi hostile species have methods of travel, that do not require element zero, they also claim they have been expanding for the last hundred years."

The other councillors looked shocked and taken aback, Cenike was the first to recover, "They have possibly five different methods of travel without the relays… how fast are these methods?"

"No idea, but I don't think they're anywhere near as fast compared to a relay, which is basically instantaneous, otherwise I think we would have run into them before this. But judging by the fact they have the means, we have been really missing out on other ways of travel. Imagine, no more Element Zero restrictions of ship manufacturing, no more being limited by just the Relay network. Their technology can unlock new applications in everything, and we have been sitting here in the citadel with tech that has had no major advances in two thousand years!" Gallius said impassioned, but reasonably.

"Five species… do we know anything about the other three?" Tevos asked.

"Two of them are a mystery. The third though, the third is a problem if their comparison is correct." Gallius replied with a sudden sigh, "According to the commander who was hosting the Terran commander we picked up, she explained her people have been at war with a species called the Arachnid Empire, and the best comparison she could make is if you took the Rachni and gave them the ability to be able to adapt to any environment in a couple generations and much more harder to eradicate, now to be fair she is a biased source so she could be over selling the threat, but if the Arachnids are anywhere as bad as the Rachni we must be ready to begin military build up."

The room went silent as they processed this news, after a while Cenike spoke, "I apologize for making that Rachni joke when this matter first appeared."

Gallius nodded, "Apology accepted."

Councilor Tevos shook her head, "Could this get any worse?"

Gallius looked down at the table, "We confirmed this region to be inside the Skyllian Verge." He heard the others, including the aides, make various signs of annoyance and pain, with at least four expletives at the prospect of having to deal with the Batarians

* * *

**Citadel space, TFS FF-400 John D. Sloat, May/26/2329 AD**

Commodore Erica Chavez sat in the central chair of her bridge as they traveled through another relay to their final destination. After the last of the Skinnies were wiped out, the Turian fleet had stuck around and provided humanitarian aid, a very pleasant surprise for the colony, and something that was needed badly.

It was estimated over 50% of the original soldiers who had been on the planet were wiped out or critically wounded, and 15% of the civilian population was missing presumed captured or dead, but it could have been higher. All and all not the worst raid the Skinnie had performed on the Federation. There had been cases where planets had been left completely empty after a raid, the Humans taken deep into the Hegemony.

Thank god the Turians had come to their aid in time, because now they could begin rebuilding that world and prepare to make it a stronghold. Not too long after the world had been cleared, the _William Wallace_ had returned, adding to the defences and then the rest of the promised fleet arrived. It was the bottom of the barrel stuff, nothing as big as Athena's, Valley Forges, or dreadnaughts, but there were plenty of destroyers and Roger Youngs to help clean up the world and start rebuilding the satellite network that would allow them to send messages back to Earth.

Not like anything bigger was needed, they just routed the formerly biggest Skinnie raiding force the Terran Federation has faced, and they inflicted disproportionately greater casualties on their enemy, literally more ships lost and nearly five times greater casualty rates to boot.

Once she was sure the planet was in good hands she had gone about the work of putting together this expedition to the Citadel after the mass funerals of her lost ships, participating in several personal funerals, and attending and awarding those lost crews the highest honors she could, while picking up a few of her own.

With the help of the Sloat's AI she had chosen the best candidates for this mission. First was the Diplomatic Face, she had chosen a SICON agent by the name Tomas Maghernus who had come in with a Roger Young carrier, the AI recommended him highly compared to the other two, which meant he was the best man for the job, or just the best man of the three, either way anything the diplomat came up with in the way of agreements with this Citadel would have to be approved by her before being sent to a vote by the Federation council, so the screw up should be minimal. Technically.

Technically he outranked her, was invested with the power to make agreements with a foreign power, and had infinitely more experience than she did in these manners. He was also the governor's representative, and while yes the government was military focused, many people still ascribed that the people came before the government. They had an entire civil revolt, the Sprange Rebellion, happen over these issues, and they were still being argued from the top to bottom of their society. As much as the Federation News Net tried to make it seem small, it only made the writing teams seem pathetic in their attempts to hide it.

She had also chosen to bring aboard the Tawns to show the Citadel species that the Federation did not just represent Humans, and some of newly formed Williams Wall brigades from Shanxi, to give a perspective of the fighting on the planet.

She would have brought Brigadier General Williams himself, but he retired as soon as he woke in the hospital, and already signed his discharge papers. As soon as the mess was cleaned up and a new commander either chosen by him or shipped in he was, quote, 'going home, taking a nap, and seeing my grandchildren everyday.' Erica heard the statue they were erecting of him would have that among many quotes of the battle. Nothing less for the Hero of Shanxi. It was unfortunate for him that because of his widespread popularity as a war hero, he would be elected as the Governor for Shanxi more than likely when Shanxi applied for Statehood.

The last thing she had needed to do was determine which ships would become her retinue for the journey, of course she was taking the Sloat, but it had taken a bit to come up with the others. She wasn't sure if she should bring fire power or not in case things went horribly wrong, but then again it could go wrong if she brought five of the biggest ship she could find. After some deliberation she had decided to bring two destroyers, and a flagship. The destroyers were fast and packed a punch, while the Flagship, in all its glory, would be there as proof they were strong and unafraid. She actually would have settled with the two destroyers but Ambassador Maghernus insisted on a big ship for the diplomatic front. A small fleet to show we are unafraid, but a powerful ship to show we have a big stick.

"Ma'am, we will be arriving at the Citadel in thirty seconds." The helmsmen reported.

"Thank you." Erica responded as she looked out the forward viewscreen. A moments later they swung past a relay, observed the strange effect this method of travel produced, and then they could see the Citadel.

It was not as impressive as she thought it would be, it was big and grandiose, but she didn't see any defenses on the station itself beyond the fleet. And as much as some people said otherwise, size can be a burden. The lunar dock yards encircled the moon giving it an artificial ring and many defense guns to protect it and Earth. People lived on it and built ships for just about everything, this appeared to be just a floating ant farm in space, a nice ant farm, but still an ant farm. The only strategic value was it was the supposed center of the Relay network. All roads lead to Rome, but those roads didn't help Rome when the Barbarians came.

"Ma'am... I'm detecting a two kilometer long ship." Her sensors officer reported.

"... Are you sure Lieutenant? While the time is right for jokes, that wasn't a funny one." Erica said before pulling it up on the nearest view screen. This ship impressed her, but while she was not one to jump to conclusions, its size must make it terrible at moving, and judging from its shape it was made more for aesthetics than war. However it was still a serious accomplishment, if they could make one two K ship, they could easily make more for war.

"Contact docking authorities please, get us permission to land." She ordered quietly looking out at the blue nebula and the ships that soared by. Indeed anyone not doing anything joined her in the view.

* * *

to be continued


	11. Chapter 10 Book one (9-9-16)

**Chapter 10**

Edited by a person of many names Blood Raven AKA TimedRaven117. Go check out his story Mass Effect: X-Com Theory!

* * *

**Citadel space, TFS FF-400 **_**John D. Sloat**_**, May/26/2329 AD**

"_Ambassador Tomas Maghernus… Sounds good, a certain ring don't you think? heheh. Congratulations on your promotion my friend. I wish I could be there with you, but the Colonists at Anternus are getting upset again. I keep telling the Sky Marshall that these issues can't be solved by troops on the ground. But he won't hear none of it. It's like he wants a reenactment of the Sprange Rebellion. Anyways. I hope your super secret mission isn't too _dangerous_. Still need to celebrate your promotion. The message should come with a gift. I know you're into that homeworld stuff and I pulled some strings with the old manufacturer._

_Love, Charlie."_

Tomas rewatched the message from his friend. He would have dearly loved to have brought her along for this mission but she had been occupied. Gently he lifted the small ten inch by five, by six box.

"Well may as well. We're almost there." He said to himself as he looked out into the blue nebula that supposedly surrounded the Citadel. With care he undid the tape at the top of the box, and delicately removed the present wrapping. Sliding the box out he smiled.

It was an old plastic collectors figurine from Japan. "GUMI Panda Hero." He read aloud as he observed the rare figurine. "If only I had someplace to put you." He mused with a smile. Looking towards his suitcase he was in the process of carefully fitting it among his personal belongings when he felt the presence of another at his door.

Waiting for the knock he stood back up and waited before his door. People found it creepy when he just knew they were present. "_Knock knock." _After a second Tomas hit the door button.

"Ambassador Maghernus sir!" One of the Ship's crew, an ensign, saluted.

Returning the salute professionally, he replied, "Report."

"We have been granted docking clearance sir, Commodore Chaves requests the presence of you and your retinue at the Port Docking bay, uh, sir." The Ensign said carefully.

"You have a question?" Maghernus asked as he motioned for the Ensign to enter as he started to send messages to his retinue using his wrist mounted communicator.

"Yes, why isn't the Commodore handling this? No offense to you but she was in charge of talking with the Turians." Tomas chuckled.

"None taken at all. Your what? 20? Fresh out of training, haven't seen much of the galaxy at large? I bet even your grandparents couldn't remember a time when space could bring anything but territory and resources. When we weren't assaulted at all sides by hostile aliens. Thought so. Commodore Chaves is undoubtedly a good commander. But being able to lead, does not mean you're able to be a diplomat. Her work with the Turians was great for a military officer, she maintained her station, showed the facts, kept the unpleasantries hidden, and got their help. But just because she got lucky and met another military officer face to face won't mean we won't encounter a real politician. You know those slimy bastards who can spend hours talking but say nothing." Tomas smiled at the man as he handed him his suitcase.

"Tell me Ensign, where do you come from? A core world? Colony? Outer Core? Maybe even Earth? Well all these disparate planets, all these different peoples need to talk, need to make deals with each other. Dealing with other species is no different, it's a give and take, based upon trust and laws. The military is all take, the word compromise with an opponent is foreign, trust is a dirty word when it comes to sensitive matters. The military is a hammer a warrior, the politician the dagger a rogue. One demands, the other talks." Already he had gathered his retinue and a half dozen people were on their way in the halls.

"So what are you sir?" The Ensign asked, entranced.

"The mage using a quill." Said the telepath.

* * *

"Remember, your my foil, connect with the Turians, but be a bit proud, maybe even confrontational, but not too much, let me take the lead. You enhance the flaws of their proposals, while I enhance the good. Agree with me when you hear me give you the signal. Always be formal with me and everyone else, I'll be more informal and relaxed. You're the lightning I'm the rod, and they are the clouds." Tomas said to Erica as they waited for the final docking process.

She was dressed snazzily, full military uniform, with her newest commendations the Star of Terra, given for meritorious actions, and the Purple Phoenix, for Honorable sacrifice. Her entire patrol group got that award, wiping out a significant portion of the enemy landing force and delaying their assault by days.

He in comparison was wearing his SICON dress uniform, with a few modifications, he changed out his peaked cap for a white beret, he wore all white, and he had a small pink ribbon pinned to his collar.

"So you mean good cop bad cop." Erica asked in reply, raising an eyebrow.

"Shhh sh shh. Don't say that aloud! It sounds so unprofessional." Tomas said mock seriously, with a scowl, which quickly turned to laughter. Something Erica slowly joined in on.

"You know I was actually worried you may be a bit up tight like you SICON types usually are." Erica said as their giggles evened out.

"Everyone loves laughter Erica, children, teens, adults, politicians. I didn't get this far without well timed laughter." Tomas said. looking over his retinue, several of them were carrying cases or boxes and dressed similar to him.

"You're also my security specialist here. Your job is going to be stressful enough as is. And after that battle with nary a day of R&amp;R I'm surprised you're still keeping it solid. A little laughter here and there is going to be good for you." Tomas said merrily.

"Do you say that to all your dates Tomas?" She replied informally to his own informality with a chuckle.

"Only the beautiful ones my dear." Tomas replied with a deep sigh, "Look sharp Commodore, take a deep breath and let's get going. Remember, your a war hero now." Flashing a grin as the docking port hissed open and a ramp extended from the Citadel dock.

Stoically, the honor guard from both sides marched out, the Terrans lead by two power suited Soldiers wearing dress berets and holding their rifles at arms. With the last eight normal soldiers, four Petolemaic, and four Human, marching out in perfect parade formation with gleaming dress uniforms, medals polished and gleaming for the paparazzi who absolutely ate that shit up as the rate of photos taken increased.

On the Citadel's half, Four Turians in military dress shells, lacking any ornamentation led the group, next four Asari commandos, helmeted and professional took the center, finally the Salarians took the rear, armored and armed, they stood at attention. Each of them a well respected Spectre or STG member.

'_They want us to seem important, to flatter us that they consider us so important. And intimidate with their strength of arms._' Tomas thought as Erica lead the group down, With himself at her left, and the Tawns Commander, Captain T'Phai to her right. '_I bet you butter everyone up like this.'_

As they had rehearsed and knew, Vice Admiral Gainus was present. Leading the receiving party was the Councilors themselves, looking proud and regal in their robes. Flanking them was the good Vice Admiral, and their Executor Excersis.

Tomas was facing the Salarian Councilor Cenike, Erica, Tevos, and T'Phai, Gallius. The reporters and paparazzi were asking question after question, trying to get the attention of the new peoples, but they were ignored, to Tomas they were a dull roar.

Standing before them Erica led, extending her hand. This had been carefully chosen by Tomas, they were not to bow, as was tradition for the Citadel species when greeting with politicians and business leaders. To many Humans it showed subservience, even if they both did it. Something the Terran public wouldn't tolerate.

So in a brief communique between the Sloat and the Citadel he had made the request. "Let us shake our hands in friendship". He had asked, and after the brief explanation it was agreed.

So here he gently took the Salarians hand, cold slightly, like petting a frog, or toad, if only he had a better comparison to give. It wasn't slimy, but it felt just slightly sticky.

On the others, Erica and Tevos did so the increasing photography at such a surprise move from the Humans. '_Yes! Eat it up! This is a surprise move from a newcomer huh?_' He thought with pride. And despite a brief moment of surprise from the Turian, T'Phai and Gallius grasped forearms heartfeltly.

"_Okay Erica! Now's the time, present them with their awards._" Tomas sent telepathically.

Erica smiled wide, "Councilors, I greet you heartfeltly, and happily. May I please speak with Vice Admiral Gainus?" Tevos nodded, hiding her emotions well visibly, but Tomas knew she was a bit surprised and interested by observing her surface thoughts and emotions. Nothing harmful of course, but everyone just exuded their emotions, and only specially trained psis like himself could keep them in.

'_She's good. Very very good.' _Tomas thought.

"Of course Commodore Chaves." She said smoothly. The councilors parted to the side and allowed a bemused Admiral forward. "Be generous" Tomas had suggested to his superiors and he had suggested something that was unusual. So much so the Terran Federation had to make a whole new medal for it and section for the archives.

Everyone around hushed, photos increased to a near blinding intensity, Erica gently activated her voice amplification.

"From the Sky Marshall in Chief himself I'm proud to announce that Vice Admiral Kalio Gainus, and all Units under his command in the Liberation at Shanxi are to be awarded; The Terran Star of Appreciation an award formed solely for your honor, The Allied Forces Ribbon of Extreme Merit, and to the Admiral himself, The Terran Aquila, one of the highest honors there is in Terran Society.

For the Turian Army; the 67th legion, the 28th Legion, and the Marines of the TFS _Vanker_ are collectively awarded the Pennant of Valor, the Campaign Ribbon for the Defence of Shanxi, and the crew of the TFS _Vanker_ the Pennant of Survival, and a commision for a statue in their honor at 'Turian Point' for their meritorious stand in their fallen ship. Each wounded and dead soldier who fought in our defence have been gifted the Purple Phoenix, may the wounded recover and the dead rest peacefully.

For the Turian Navy; the Fallen Eagle insignia for the lost ships; _Sky Castle_, _Primarch's Honor, Aphid, Spear of Romultion, Incongruous, Laughable, _and _Vanker._ In their honor their names are added to the Terran Ships of Honor, and human successor ships, their keels already laid by our finest Shipwrights, will present the Terran Phoenix Reborn on their hulls. For the _Indomitable, _for five confirmed kills on the fleeing Skinnie slaver scum, and the disabling of a slave ship and the recovery of her precious cargo, she is awarded the Pennant of Valor, Pennant of Honor, and the Pennant of Terran Citizenry. For the First Operational Frigate Flotilla they are awarded the Iron Wheel and Iron Gear, for their spectacular piloting and disabling of three Ptolemaic Raider craft despite heavy and near irreparable damage to all seven vessels.

For Admiral Albirus Varlikam, captain of the _Hierarchy's Fist_, you have my personal thanks for the destruction of the enemy Dreadnought, the rescue of my patrol fleet from the opening engagement, and for opening negotiations between my people and yours. In thanks you are awarded the most valued of all prizes for a soldier in our forces, Terran Citizenship! With all benefits that apply. You are also awarded the Terran Aquila, and your ship with those of your patrol, two First Contact Xs for your remarkable leadership and skill when dealing with the unknown. You will be referred to by all Terrans as Admiral or the appropriate rank at all times.

To Commander Canus Albiraka, for the selfless act of taking the final shot from the Petolemaic Dreadnought, saving the _Hierarchy's Fist _from certain destruction from the war machine, and leadership of his downed ship the _Vanker, _when he landed in unfamiliar territory, and pulled a defence of his craft that will go into Terran Tactical books for decades to come, you are awarded the Medal of Honor, the Terran Infantryman's Badge, and the Pyrrhic Victory pin.

To Colonel Vibius Stradas he and his unit are awarded the Medal of Honor for the defeat of unbelievable odds in the defence of the downed _Vanker._

And finally but certainly not least, General Spueus Tiburtus is awarded the Terran Drop Commander badge, for his daring rescue of the Shanxi Defense Force from certain annihilation by landing his forward elements among the enemies lines. A statue of him and his men is commissioned to be made in the first landing zone. There are several more awards that shall be given individually at the award ceremony."

As she said that final remark two of Tomas' aides stepped forward both holding suitcases.

Taking both Tomas stepped forward. The silence was deafening, even the pictures had stopped halfway through, everyone was stunned at such an act, and all the reporters were hastily making sure they got all of it, the Council had been tight lipped about the matter. Now they had an idea of what occurred.

'_Oops? Did someone not tell the public about the incident fully? Well silly me.' _Tomas thought with a sly smirk. He was going to put them off balance with his politeness, with his gifts, and accidently reveal of things they may not have revealed themselves yet. Just another card on the diplomatic table.

The detail was on purpose. As he pulled out the Admiral's own medals, watching with a smile as he puffed his chest out and accepted the medals and campaign ribbon. Slowly the pictures started back up. Going into perfect attention, Tomas saluted the officer, who saluted back. "I wish to shake the hand of every man and woman who earned these awards Admiral, as I pin on their medals." Tomas declared with evident pride as he offered his hand to the commander who shook it firmly.

The roar returned to a new fever pitch. Questions after question after questions came and came and came. As they started to leave with their honor guard along with the councilors, Tomas hoped fervently that he would get to answer those questions very shortly.

* * *

**Citadel Space, Citadel, Citadel Tower 2657GS May/26/2329 AD**

Councilor Tevos held up the best smile she could considering the circumstances, the Terrans impromptu award ceremony had thrown her off her game a bit, and revealing what had really gone on to the press so quickly was, unexpected to say the least. Thankfully that media circus was over and they could get down to figuring out what to do about the Terrans and the other races of the Verge.

Citadel Tower had been cleared of all personnel that were not needed for this meeting, just the soldiers from the early ceremony and commanders who had participated in the fighting on and over Shanxi. The Terrans had the same complement as they had had at the medal ceremony, and Tevos tried not to stare at them. She was still amazed they had found a species that look so similar to her own, though the military persona they had felt more like the Turians, and their tech…

Tevos banished those thoughts from her mind as the Terran ambassador took the platform.

Ambassador Tomas Maghernus stepped forward with two of his colleagues, Junior Assistant Stone, and Assistant Petrosky, "Thank you so very much for the warm welcome Councilors. Although I'm surprised no one else is in here to partake in this historic meeting."

He was obviously trying to butter them up, the nice words, the award ceremony. Certainly they had enough to be thankful for after the Turian assistance but this was a bit much. Suspicion in her mind she said mock sadly, "Unfortunately as I'm sure you are aware this meeting will contain classified material between the two of us. Information that I'm sure we would all want some time to process and judge our responses... in the coming weeks."

Tomas caught that last pause and hid his smile, "Of course Councilor Tevos, it's just a shame the people will not be informed of our agreements sooner. A once in a lifetime meeting this is for most people's." '_Caught her off guard with the revelation to the press, pause indicates that they were planning a much later reveal of the entire incident. If at all.' _

"Yes indeed. Although I must thank your generosity, it was only a minor police action that we accomplished, nothing more than two legions." Councilor Gallius commented as he saw his commanders nod in approval.

"Even so you saved over two million Federation citizens from slavery, something all of them and myself are very grateful for." Tomas replied heartfeltly. '_Genuine surprise and flattery from Turians, interest from the Salarian Councilor and guards, Suspicion growing in Asari.' _

"Yes well, onto business shall we Ambassador Maghernus- uh who is that with the camera?" Councilor Cenike, the Salarian, asked as one more Terran managed to slide into the room with a floating drone and the biggest smile ever.

"That is Reporter-Private Ailus Pederson, she was part of the crew complement from our escort, and was present on Shanxi. Unfortunately in my government's rush to assemble this mission they left out a few key things, like a Human record keeper and typist to record this meeting for my government's benefit. Rest assured that any and all footage shall be shared with your censor office before released on the Terran Federation Net. And she is also well aware of the punishment for breaking any of the agreements she has signed." Tomas replied, succeeding in calming the Councilor down from their suspicion.

"Okay, well than, I guess we should have asked that question beforehand then. Before she started to record. But no matter. First I would like to ask a few cultural questions." Cenike asked after regaining her thoughts.

"First off, how long have you been in space, how many languages are utilized by your people, and how politically unified are you?" She asked obviously from a predetermined list. "I understand if this can be hard for you to answer with such a broad question, and especially if the report we received of you are accurate about your people."

Tomas smiled, "Of course Councilors, while this is my first time meeting with a different species on a diplomatic mission, I have reviewed the important things about Terran Culture. My Species, _Homo Sapien Sapien _as is our scientific name, or Humans as our species is called, has been in space for 113 years. Ever since the invention of Cherenkov Drive, which allowed us to colonize hundreds of planets. We have never encountered this prothean technology, or at least any that I've been told about, but bear with us we may have some hidden files on the subject. At least not until we discovered a secondary class relay and activated it. We have no more information to go off beyond that as the ship we sent out, the TFS _Lodbrok Ragnar_, has not reported back, and we assume it was destroyed by a hostile power with all hands. If you happen to know where it is, we would like to know where it died so we may possibly be able to recover the dead and the escape pods. We also use about a dozen primary languages with hundreds of minor dialects used across our homeworld and among our planets. But we can all be managed to at least know enough English to get by. Politically speaking we are rock solid in our political unity for the most part when assailed by an outside force. In a federation as diverse as ours, we have our problems or disagreements, otherwise I wouldn't be in a job. But the last major societal disruption was the Sprange Rebellion." Tomas said everything truthfully, leaving a out a few parts here and there. But being truthful meant that they wouldn't have reason to doubt him or lie in the future.

"We ah, found your ship. A miracle depending on who you ask really. The 300-400 relay patrol fleet just happened to be making the rounds when it stopped at 314 and saw it was activated with the TFS _Lodbrok Ragnar_ outside of it. They didn't open fire immediately, but as per standard procedure we tried to communicate and failing that stop your ship from escaping, unsure if it was a… Pirate ship that activated it illegally or a new species." Tevos said as diplomatically a she could. Unfortunately the damage was done she knew, to the Terrans they would be insulted that their ship was considered a pirate, and that they didn't know every single ship type there was. A legitimate grievance when you got down to it.

'_Okay Erica look angry, and insulted. But don't say anything.' _Tomas telepathically sent to the Commodore, and she made a suitably upset look, which carefully emoted to anger and sadness. Poorly done of course but how would they know that?

"The _Ragnar_ was destroyed after firing upon two Turian frigates, destroying them when they got too close. Admittedly from their point of view it would look like a sudden aggressive act. And knowing your history, we can understand why you fired upon us. However we managed to pick up all the survivors, and are willing to return them and all the seized equipment." Gallius said, and Tomas told Erica to lighten up on the anger.

"Thank you, we would like it if they could be transported aboard our flagship for processing, debrief, and therapy." Tomas said sadly, not true sadness, in truth he was elated. He thought they were ALL dead.

"Now onto our next question please." Cenike said as she brought up the next question, "What is your political alignment and average life of the people in the Federation?"

Tomas smiled, "Well in a word, Turian. Its as if the Turians and we Humans ripped it from the same book. Although we are more of an oligarchic meritocracy, than a more democratic system that many people, especially on the outer fringes, would prefer. But that's a product of the Russo-Anglo-American Alliance-Chinese Hegemony War and the Great Disorder. If it sounds complicated that's because it was. But in the following social turmoil caused by political corruption and warfare, the Human peoples in most major nations overthrew their increasingly tyrannical leaders. Human's don't really like to be oppressed whether real or imagined."

"Now the species in the sector. You mentioned there are four of them correct? We only got minor information on them." Tevos said interested. Tomas could taste the anticipation off her no matter how well she hid it physically.

"There is too much information on the various subjects that I would very much rather sit than stand for it all. But I knew you would ask this so I prepared a report on each of them with notes from myself about information that wouldn't be in a normal report. If you have further questions, I'm sure we can discuss it over a nice lunch." Tomas said with an upbeat manner.

"But the Basics: The one we are at war with currently, the Arachnid empire, is an insectile hive mind who for some reason want the Human species dead and has attempted to do so by invasion and asteroid launches. They managed to land one asteroid hit on Earth and that started the beginning of the war. It's not a Rachni war from what I can say. That or we are better at war than the Asari and Salarians. It's not a question of negotiation, we have talked with them before, they just hate us."

"Next the Coven. This is the one we have the least amount of information on. They look almost identical to humans, with only color differences in their skin. Its like you Tevos put on a wig, and some fake ears. They are a Matriarchy, who have some obviously fabricated claims on being our progenitors. Impossible since we have a very well documented trail of evolution for our species. They are master infiltrators, and all of them have some form of Psionic powers. This is different from biotic powers, which I will explain much later. They are a security nightmare if they capture one of you or one of your leaders. Standard procedure should be forced retirement and close observation for anyone captured by the Coven for more than a few HOURs. Do NOT mistake this for over reaction or propaganda, we nearly lost an entire sector of worlds because of this." Toma was very insistent upon it.

"Next the Petolemaic Hegemony. These guys have never been much a of a problem militarily speaking. They're like pirates and slavers except a lot fewer places to hide. I believe Colonel T'Phai would love to tell you about his people. So I won't spoil the explanation beyond we are in a war of cultures, and after the Shanxi attack, they will be losing a lot more worlds once we finish off the Arachnids. We can't tolerate enemies at our gates, if that's what they want to be." '_Subtle threat, with implications towards the Council if they try anything. Our advantage of only having one relay makes Shanxi a swamp waiting to happen if they come in through that entrance. A door we need to be able to close if it comes to it.' _Tomas thought.

"The final species is only known as the Fourth Republic. That was the designation we gave them and they have not been forthcoming in their name. Not much is known, but we do know they are isolationists, and have told us right to our face that they want us to die out. Violently preferably. I've seen them in action exactly one time and there is an old saying on earth for gratuitous amounts of one thing. Ahem, 'I heard you like mechs, so I put mechs on your mechs.' It's silly yes, but on the one battle I saw, there were more mechs then living soldiers. And we deployed over an entire army group."

"Well we shall restrain our questions until after we have taken some time to go over these reports. How does lunch at the Presidium cafe in a week sound Ambassador?" Tevos said, tying in some questions quickly while keeping eye contact with him.

"Of course Councillor, I only hope they have something I will enjoy. My stomach gets very picky when traveling. Quite a burden really." He said that last line in the Asari language, it was supposedly an old joke, a play on words in the language, since Stomach and Child used the same word. Like Bear meant to hold something, and a large mammal that walked on four legs.

It got the prerequisite polite laugh and showed that he was capable ambassador by showing he was more than willing to learn their languages.

"Finally We know it will take some time to adjust and move it through your political system, but I would like to ask if your species is interested in joining the Citadel. You will gain significant benefits-" Tevos was in the midst of speaking Tomas waved for her to stop politely.

"As much as I love to hear your voice Councilor. I would rather not take up your time by going over all the terms. I have read them, and after very careful considerations both myself, the Commodore, the Sky Marshals, and the Governors, and a few select polls among my people all say no. To all counts of your agreement. We cannot become an associate member for we get few too little for it and give way to much. This however does not bar other agreements which I am more than prepared to offer you. Agreements that you would find most suitable and after a brief explanation of why joining you would be a bad idea you will agree." Tomas said carefully, judging each word to be calming.

Now they knew why he had done that award ceremony at the beginning, to make the pain of not having the Humans as an associate slave more bearable.

"First off our history is not conducive to what you demand, you demand us to give you our right to determine our foreign policy. Mainly that to Terminus independent worlds. We would also be denied colonizing worlds as we see fit, as I have seen the Batarians may be trying to edge into our territory if it were to suddenly be open to colonization and raiding. We would also be forced to sign treaties on warfare that we just see no point to following. Especially to your arguments of planetary bombardment, which we find is a necessity to defeating our enemies. Especially in the case of the usage of nuclear weapons. Especially when we are at war every few years with a new opponent? Unlike you who have had peace for centuries at a time, your name would mean nothing to our enemies, it won't be acceptable to you."

"Conversely, if you have us join you, you will need to help us kill off two species, help us conquer a third, and allow us to see fit to do whatever we see fit with the fourth. We would also not tolerate any aggression on us, if we see ourselves being threatened militarily we will deal with it, whatever the means. We will also DESTROY the Asari economy and any economy that relies upon this Element zero with our new technology that would be solely patented to us and our corporations. Not to mention other societal and technological things we have accomplished that would be retroactively banned." Tomas said listing off the well prepared list he had made after careful consideration of everyone.

Councilor Gallius was the next to speak, innerly impressed that he basically told them all to go stay on their side of the galaxy, "Admittedly we don't have the best history when it comes to these things. After the Geth Rebellions and the lack of action on rising piracy and slavery we have been viewed as uncaring. They consider us only caring of what affects us." Tevos had not been expecting Gallius to be the first to throw the entire system under the bus. But he was right, these issues weren't easily solved or painlessly so, and like the Quarians and the Terminus, their ruthlessness and blind doctrine created problems that would last for thousands of years. And with allegations of favoritism for the big three only, their line of, "Its for galactic peace" was laughed at. But that was another times matter.

"What agreements do you have for us Ambassador?" Tevos said as Tomas pulled out two suitcases, one turning into an instant table. The other filled to the brim with paperwork.

"What I have Councilors, is a couple dozen trade agreements, each from individual worlds, a Non-Aggression Treaty or a NAT, an offer of mutual military assistance, in thanks for your work at Shanxi, a science mission to explore each other's worlds, a cultural exchange programme, THAT one I had to dig deep to before first contact for the rules of. And finally the motherlode, a trade agreement that allows Terran Corporations and businesses to sell in your territory with free trade, no tariffs on either side, but we will limit exports into your territory to give your economies time to adjust." Tomas said as he laid out on the entire table, about two dozen thick stacks of paper almost a foot high.

All of the Councilors assistants groaned in pain, even if they weren't there.

To Be Continued


	12. Short Stories 2 Book one

**Author note**

**So Chapter 10 was written by timid raven, yeah i came up with the basic idea of what was going to happen, but then i looked away for a day and it was already done. i think he did a good job, everything i was going to cover was there, definitely just going to let him do what every want after the reaction you guys gave to a chapter he wrote. with in reason of course.**

**Side Stories**

* * *

**Arachnid Empire territory, Klendathu orbit, CV-690 Enterprise April/23/2329 AD**

Sergeant Major Hector Kairis followed close behind Lieutenant Réti Béla of the BlackShields Platoon as they walked to the conference room, "Any idea on what's going on?"

"Nope, but if they're calling us up, it requires a hammer which means nothing good." Béla commented as he turned a corner.

Hector nodded not liking that idea of being a hammer on Klendathu, any other planet he had no problem with, but his older brother had been in the first invasion and had been mentally broken by the landing.

Béla hit a switch and opened the door to a conference room. Inside was Rear Admiral Evelina Rayt Leonidovna looking pissed and puffing on a cigar like it was the only thing keeping her from a psychotic break. 'Well that can't be good' Hector muttered internally as Leonidovna gestured for them to sit.

Leonidovna took a long drag then said in a voice that was all too calm, "Lieutenant Réti an hour ago the Valley Forge was shot down by plasma fire, before you ask from what communication we gotten from the ship the Hero lives, damn his one eyed soul to hell." Hector had heard rumors Leonidovna and Rico had bad blood, but this was the first confirmation he gotten, now he wondered what had happened between those two. "I been ordered to take the _Enterprise_and use my fighter detachment to wipe the plasma bugs out, however the bugs and some idiots on the surface have thrown several wrenches into the mix." She clicked a button on her desk while taking another drag, showing what appeared to be a downed Roger Young Class frigate, "Looks like the enemy took control of the triple A cannons on the frigate and are protecting their own air defenses."

"What who would use Terran weapons to attack Terrans?" Béla said confused.

Leonidovna leaned back in her seat "No idea, but some reports from the survivor we picked indicate the bugs have been experimenting on humans and creating some crack pot pseudo religions around the worship of the bugs. Either way this is a problem we need to deal with."

"Why not just nuke it from orbit?" Hector asked seeing the easy way out.

"Because of these idiots that arrived on scene a few minutes ago." Leonidovna said flicking a switch and changing the image time stamp and showing something arriving on scene, he couldn't make it out clearly though, "Enhance segment G 27." she said between a cigar and clenched teeth, a moment later he saw what it was. Four Pegasus Combat Skimmers and a dozen Spirit Reconnaissance Skimmers were assaulting the side of the ship. Several light armor troopers charging the holes they made. "These idiot are in our line of fire already attacking the ship but the only reason we haven't disregarded them and launched the big N is this," she flicked a button and zoomed in on one of the wings of a Pegasus.

On it was laughing Skull and crossed swords engulfed in fire with word inscribed on a scroll under it "Blackburn's Raiders, why does that name sound familiar?"

"Elizabeth Blackburn was the poster child for invasion companies, she went from corporal to Captain in a year and was one of the first unit to hit the surface, rumor is she charged the bugs with a broadsword and forced the bugs to withdraw from combat with her unit." Leonidovna supplied.

"Admirable, so you want us to go in and help them destroy the enemy and rescue her and her forces?" Béla asked.

"Close, Blackburns dead, it was confirmed during the first invasion, she and her staff burnt to death in a bug plasma strike, her unit though did not break, and did not retreat like most cases, they held, and managed to hold the line for 15 hours allowing dozens of other companies to escape. SICON has been under the impression it was wiped out in the last attack, apparently they were wrong like always." Hector chuckled at that comment. "You and your platoon are going to be dropped into that fight and destroy the enemy and rescue her forces, those heroes have been left for dead long enough."

Béla saluted "I will get my forces ready to drop when the time comes ma'am"

"Good dismissed!"

* * *

Hector landed on the side of a hill just outside the perimeter of the Raiders, his two squad soon landed in the same area and he could see thanks to the internal hud that Béla and his two squads had landed on the other side of ship closer to where the controls for the guns would be located. Béla sent a typed signal indicating he would take his force into the ship to secure it while Hector should secure the raiders before moving in to join him.

They wore ragged light armor, stitched together with crudely smithed iron plates, Bug carapace, and other more creative items. Colored a desert tan, most were too busy watching an opening to notice the Power Armor troopers coming up behind them, but one waved them over to a nearby Pegasus Skimmer. "Welcome to the badlands FNGs." the Blackburn Raider sergeant said. His uniform was scraped together just like his troopers the only thing of note was that he carried an old broadsword on his back, the handle of it was misshapen and the scabbard was burnt black.

"Are you the leader of these troopers?" Hector asked making sure he was talking to the right man.

"Leader's a strong word, more like elected idiot, but if you must attach that word, but yeah I guess you could call me the commander, I do carry the Blackburned." he put his hand on the handle of the Broadsword, giving a slight tug to indicate what he was talking about. "Jon Morgan at your service sir!"

Hector nodded, "We're here to rescue you, after we remove that ship, so what's the situation? Cult or brain bug controlling humans?"

"Neither and worst" Morgan said pointing at the opening in the wall of the ship. "We got soldier bugs in there."

"Warrior bugs? how warrior bugs causing this trouble?

Morgan shook his head "No no, sorry I don't know what your name for them is, but Soldier bugs are way different than Tiger bugs, different breed, more deadly, they've only been showing up in the last year or so, they must've been testing them here before they unleashed them on you guys."

"Well I have no intelligence on ever hearing of anything like you describe. What's the problem?"

Morgan nodded "Follow me." Hector nodded and motioned his troopers to help the raiders keep whatever was in the ship from leaving. They walked over to a couple corpses; six legs, four in the back segment and two in the front at the base of the torso that appeared to articulate them to be used as stabbing implements. Near the top of the torso was two arms, with four fingered hands and the head had eight eyes and a mandible mouth that was reminiscent of a spider. All in all it looked like madman's concept of an intelligent spider.

"I'm not seeing what makes these such a threat physically." Hector said stepping down on the bug, he used the armor weight to crack the bugs carapace indicating it was only lightly armored.

"Alone they aren't dangerous, just like any other human. But the bugs seem to like our guns." Morgan said pointing to an oddly shaped brick.

It took Hector a moment to look over it before he realized what he was looking at, pointing it down he pulled the trigger and released a spray of bullets. "Bugs using guns… what fresh hell is this" It was worse than just that, since the gun was not any make he ever seen before, it was a machine pistol, he could tell that from the size and rapid fire capability, but other than that it was not made by skinnie or Terran hands.

"It's Klendathu. Everyday a fresh hell." Morgan said, giving it a little musical jingle, earning a few amused chuckles from his men.

Hector got on the comm. and tried to raise Béla to warn him but something was jamming his signal. "Were going in." he said over the coms to his troopers and then turned to Morgan "You and your men don't need to come in with us, but you're welcome to join us."

"We'll keep the door open, but my men are exhausted, and poorly armored. The armor is more for show than anything else." Morgan replied sadly, "All our heavy troops went in to help take out the Soldiers."

Hector nodded then moved to the front line where his men were waiting. They did last minute weapons checks, and used their jump jets to cover the dead zone between the ship and Blackburn's lines. There was more bug corps holding more machine pistols but none alive, the inside of the ship was pitch black, so Hector Signaled his troopers to turn on their helm and guns lights as they moved into the darkness. if there had been any outside light filtering he probably gone with night vision mode but the ship hull was intact enough that there was no source of light to use.

The troopers in front carried carbines, closely supported by a Light Machine Gun to hose down the narrow halls. Behind them were trooper with carbines and shotguns, covering the sides, helmet cams coming up with schematics of the ships, and all those little vents that a bug could spring from,

Hector carried his own LMG at the center of the formation as they moved further into ship. It was quiet, no noises as far as he could hear as they got further into the ship he saw none of the enemy. They had gotten halfway to the bridge when they found a Power Armor Trooper, he had been cut up at all the weak points in the armor.

He hoped that was just plain poor luck on his fellow's case, but the hairs on the back of his neck were standing, it seemed to him these bugs were not to be trifled with, they might not be the animals they were used to. "Flamers to the head of the column, now. Stay behind the point men though." he ordered and the trooper pulled a superheated plasma launcher off their backs and covered the point men. They found a few more Troopers and few more bug bodies, as they made their way but no sign of any survivors. They reached the bridge soon after and found a horror show, some of the bugs were working the consoles, however most of them were currently feasting on the dead, both Human and bug alike.

The bugs looked up from what they were doing as Hector and his lead troopers entered. "Burn 'em out! Weapons free!" in a single moment the room was engulfed flames frying the bugs before they could draw their weapons and destroying the control panels. The screaming the bugs let out was soon greeted by screeching indicating more were coming to their aid.

"Phalanx now! Carbines and shotguns in front, LMGS at back, Flamers at intervals. Keep those doors shut! Form ranks and fire at will." The trooper responded on instinct forming a compact line behind consoles and burning corpses, at least halfway into the bridge to give them room to move.

Aiming their rifles down the hallway the bugs were going to have to come from, and they weren't wrong as a swarm of the bugs rushed into the wall of withering fire and burning flame.

Murphy was right, incoming fire has the right of way.

However the bugs did not stay to script for long. They stopped coming and took up positions around the entrance bulkhead, using their machine pistol to fire around the meager cover they had. "Break for cover!" Hector ordered as one of his troopers was struck by hundreds of bullets, his power armor laughing at the low caliber and low quality rounds. But quantity has its own quality and a lucky shot hit him in the side, between the protective plates.

The trooper close to him pulled him into cover and started to see to his wounds. Hector let loose with his LMG keeping the bugs down, when he pulled back into cover he heard something moving in the wall, he moved his head just as one of the bladed legs forced it way through the metal.

Turning, he riddled the wall with bullets and then decided to just leave a big fucking bomb and jump. He turned to look at the burning bridge and was just able to see that the windows were pure pillars of light, "Pull back to the windows! Explosives, set a bomb on remote detonation, my HUD!" he ordered getting back up and unleashing volley of fire, his troopers moved with experience and professionalism, they didn't just break ranks and run, they slowly made a smaller circle, dragging wounded who continued to fire themselves. When they got almost to the windows, one of his soldiers threw a grenade towards the open door, a gout of flame and bug parts exploding out.

"Good! Jump, jump, jump! Wounded first, flamers last!" He was one of the last trooper to scramble through the opening, and as he fell he detonated the gift they left for the bugs, rewarded with a satisfying kaboom. He landed in the desert a lot harder they he expected, one of the bullets had destroyed half of the jump jet system, he was sure he broke a rib and sprained an ankle as he stumbled away from the ship and sat down next his two squads, what was left of the blackshields. Hitting the cones he signaled the _Enterprise _that the enemy battery was out of action, and called for retrieval, he was going to make sure that wreck was nuked from orbit but for now he just had to get his men and the Raiders off the planet and prepare his report on the soldier bugs.

If he and his men weren't in power armor, they would have gotten overrun with ease at the sheer amount of firepower. Thank god for 6 inch armor plating!

* * *

**North west Terran Federation Territory, Drapus, Military Intelligence Offices, May/26/2329 AD**

First lieutenant Lilith Stevens looked over the medical examiner's report in concern, Captain Amone Picco of the 7th company had been found dead, buried in the snow out side of the hard copy records building, as the only member of the staff on hand with Psychometry she had been assigned to look into the death and gather preliminary information while a Sicon MP team was on their way.

She had assumed he had died from the cold, possibly slipped and fallen in the snow, and been left to die. Which reflected in her observation and first impressions notes. However, when she had touched it she had gotten flash of something with many tentacles, arms, and a wave of fear.

_Disturbing_.

There was no life forms on this planet until humans arrived, so there was no beast with many tentacles running around driving people mad with fear. Well at least any encountered to live and tell it that is. Which meant that something unusual had occurred a few nights ago. On a hunch Lilith had searched Hard copy records thinking, the answer to what going on my be in there, and to an extent it had been. She had just had to deal with the memories of three couples using the building as a love shack instead of what it was meant for.

And people wondered why Psychometrics were given their own separate bathroom area.

After the third one which had left her face as red as her hair she had touched a document that gave her a flash of Captain Picco. She read the document herself and discovered it was time scales and tracking information of Fourth Republic patrols, and sightings of ships and fleets. Something someone would need if they wanted to try and sneak something past the Fourth border, operative word being try as even with the records they had been keeping even the best of the blockade runners used by the Federation failed.

Now reading the report from the medical examiner she had a clear view of what had happen according to this Picco had died of fear, it said a heart attack caused by an excess of Adrenaline, literally so much his body overdosed itself, either he was doing speed and had a bad trip. Or more likely the freezing environment, combined with stress, and sudden indescribable fear that would make Lovecraft proud contributed to his death. It seemed likely he had died by some kind of psychic force acting on his mind. Which was not good, someone using their abilities for evil gave psychics like her a bad name and needed to be stomped out.

Of course the Federation system for handing psychics was not perfect, she personally had wanted to be part of the Terran Space Navy or Fleet as it was colloquially known when she joined up few years back like her father, but her psychic abilities had been discovered and railroaded her into Military Intelligence, and when she got out of the service about the only job she would be able to get that would not have the federation watching her every move was a model, something she was just not interested in becoming even if she had the legs to pull it off.

The question was where was the person who had orchestrated Piccos death? Absent mindedly Lilith pulled on some fresh latex gloves and opened up an evidence bag and started picking through his wallet. As she got to the business cards she got a flash of fear and a vision of gyrating bodies. Confused, and concerned on if there were any strip clubs in the area, "Please be gay, please be gay, please be gay." She chanted as she slowly pulled it out and after a few dramatic moments of having her eyes closed shut she opened them.

"_FRACK_!"

* * *

Lilith stood in front of the "club" Picco had had card in his wallet for. She'd been a _little _worried when she read the name, but tried to hold out hope. Well hope told her to go away in a drunken stupor. "Of course he'd come somewhere like this..." she muttered to herself, letting out a quiet sigh before she made her way into the strip club. After a few minutes properly psyching herself out and making sure her papers and badge were in order.

"Please don't offer me a job." she whimpered out before advancing confidently in, right past the bouncer who gave her a raised eyebrow at her antics.

The biggest worry in her mind was if she'd get a disease just from touching something in here. Right now she doubted there would be any leads she could pick up one. Other than the horrendous images a straight woman should not be assaulted with.

It didn't offer Lilith much comfort that the bar at least looked clean. She didn't even want to think about the kinds of things that took place in here. Technically prostitution was illegal, but the Federation was notorious about its lack of enforcement in the border colonies.

She stood in the entryway as she looked around the bar, noticing people sitting at the tables, and people sitting around the stage watching the stripper dancing for them. Then she noticed the bar in the back and decided to start there, especially with its distance from everything else. She carefully navigated her way over to the bar, careful not to touch anything with her hands or body. She was thankful for those platform boots she kept around for situations like these. Looking at the back of a black haired, thirty something woman making drinks. "Excuse me," she called out to her. "Do you have a minute?"

The women continued cleaning a mug, a blue class ring gleaming on her finger when Lilith came up to her and only spared glance at Lilith's face "Try out for strippers are Tuesday come back later."

Lilith groaned, '_Why god… Why do you hate me?_' She now knew how it felt for all those Tv shows and comic characters who did embarrassing stuff like this. She was a little embarrassed for a moment then angry that the woman thought she wanted to be stripper.

She was so confused by this she made a show to check she was wearing her black Military Intelligence uniform with black trench jacket, while her brass federation eagle button was barely noticeable in the light, her peaked cap was kinda a dead giveaway

She just looked right back to Raven Girl as she was now going to call her, "Look at my chest and tell me if I look like stipper material." Crossing her arms under her bust to push up the Brass Eagle pinned now very clearly on her breast over her heart.

The women complied, and after a barely noticeable flash of recognition she said, "Oh sorry, you're right, your chest is WAY too flat to be one of the girls. Here for a drink then?"

The look on Lilith's face was evidently priceless because the woman nearly broke down laughing, "Oh the look on your face!" She started to nearly howl out in laughter, drowned out to the rest of the club by the music. After a few moments of calming down Raven Girl sighed out and set the mug down, "Ahh. Sorry for that. A lot of MilSec girls come in looking for jobs. Your the first SICO girl I've seen though. Too bad you don't want a job, you got the physique for it, if not the chest, but I hear some guys are into that sort of thing. Now you're obviously not here for a job. So what's it gonna be?"

Lilith had heard about mobile infantry and fleet girls come to backwaters and the such to make cash on the side for a family back home, she even heard of the occasional dares and some for the experience. Mostly for the first two, military life could be degrading, but this job must be more so. And she still wasn't exactly sure what to think about the woman thinking she was trying to get a job here. "Y-yes. I'm from the local Records Depot. We recently had the murder of one of our clerks…. I'm also a psychometric, which is how I learned he had come here recently." Lilith explained pushing some red hair out of her eyes, trying to regain a little control over the situation.

"Oh… OH! Ouch girl, I heard being a Psychometric could be uncomfortable, but now that I think about it must be down right horrible." Raven Girl gave her, her full attention. Lilith looking at her front now had to try hard not to widen her eyes or make some funny face. '_I never had such bad grades in my life!' _ Trying not to look down at her own perfect score bust she kept a straight face.

"I'm was wondering if you remember this man." she said regaining her composure as best she could. Pulling out a picture from the inside pocket of her trench coat. Holding it angled so the light would catch the surface.

The Woman looked closely at the picture, gently rubbing ehr ring as he thought, "Hmm yeah I remember him, big spender, loved the girls here. Nice guy too from what i could gather. How'd he die?

Lilith sighed, "Fear. He overdosed on Adrenaline produced by his brain, causing his heart to fail. We found him frozen outside the building. Suspicions are on this being a Section 5 case." Section 5 was a Psychic related case. And she wasn't suspicious, but Raven didn't need to know that.

"Hmm first few times he just came here to see a couple of the girls, but the last few times he met with the manager, I think they were talking about something to do with opening a fourth club together in the Erun system, but I'm not paid to spy on my boss. Just swing on a poll, and man the bar. And shotgun when a customer gets rowdy." she then looked at the girl again after giving a overview of all the customers and girls. "If you want the Manager is still in I think."

"That would be perfect thank you." Lilith waited while the bartender got someone to cover for her, then followed her to the back of the strip club. "Thanks for the help. Here's my card. Call me if you have any more information." Giving a smile Raven nodded.

She wasn't surprised to see the manager's office was separated by thick wall from the club, "Boss we got a Federation investigations officer here to meet you." She motioned Lilith into a finely decorated office with a little fire place in the corner that was unlit. There was a desk at the other end of the room with a swivel chair facing away from her towards a bank of surveillance cameras..

Lilith stepped into the office as she was introduced, walking over toward the desk. "Thank you for your time. If you have a minute, I'd like to ask you a few questions." Lilith heard the door closing, behind but there nothing from the manager. Which was starting to make her nervous. A bit paranoid she turned her neck to check behind her quickly, and saw that there was no one else present. It didn't help her feel any better.

Looking back towards the manager who had yet to move. All those years of watching horror movies and crime vids started to flash before her eyes. Chuckling as a way to diffuse the nervousness she gently placed a hand on the table to balance herself as she tried to turn the chair. "hehe I'm sure that chair is empty and Raven made a mistake-"

Sometimes Lilith hated being a Psychometric, as she touched the table she realized her gloves weren't very thick.

Lilith saw couple flashes of random people in the office, and Raven here sitting in the manager seat sometimes her skin was so pale it looked blue….. At first she was in shock, "Oh No-!" unfortunately, before she could pull her service pistol and assume a combat stance,, she felt a hand on her shoulder, she came to herself and just caught a glimpse of blue on her shoulder. "You watch too many cheesy vids for your own good." Raven whispered in her ear.

A wave of pain washed over Lilith's body and she screamed out in pain as suddenly a true shock shot through her body, making her collapse to the ground. There wasn't even any specific part of her body that hurt, every inch of her body was in pure nerve pain. It brought her to memories of SICON prisoner training on their fresh agents, including her. The Coven infiltrator must have hacked into her nerve system, there was nothing she could do as the woman dragged her into the chair in front of the desk. Beyond it being a very comfortable chair it brought little pleasure. Locking eyes with her foe she saw how the other just taunted her.

"Any questions before I go rooting around in that pretty head of yours?" The women said hey eyes lightly glowing green.

Barely regaining control of her speech she replied, drawing as much sass as she could, "What like one of those old movie villains who would gloat and explain their plan?" She smiled a crooked smile, her entire face numb. Her tongue felt like it was swollen sock in her mouth. Ignoring it she was doing her best to marshall all her mental strength.

Raven nodded, "You and us aren't so different, there is a recorded connection that people explaining their plans and other things to other people produces a sort of chemical that makes that person feel good. People live for noticing that recognition on an opponent's face, when they know they made a major mistake, or they have failed irrevocably."

"Well then if you're so forthcoming, where do you get such a nice chair? I could use one for my office when I'm done with you." Lilith tried to say confidently. failing as her eyes darted back and forth as she tried her best to block her memories and her mind, protecting them as much as she could with her powers. She tried to resist as her head was grabbed, but she was forced to look into her eyes. She absolutely hated the feeling of her looking into her mind. Like she was being,

_Violated._

"Oh trying to go into lock down mode, I have to say that the one good thing about you SICON types you know when to do damage control. You're a clever one, first one who actually took me up on my offer of questions, trying to distract me." the Covennite said with mirth. Lilith tried to move her body to push the woman away or stop her but she could do nothing, her arms felt like they were made of a big mushy medicine ball as the women used her free hand to go behind her back and unhook her holster, making extra sure to rub against her back and press her sizable chest against Lilith, likely to make her uncomfortable.

"You won't be needing this anymore now, can't have you getting free enough to blow your brains out before I've had my fun, and I stand by what I said you would make a great dancer. Maybe that's how I will get rid of the threat you pose. How would you like that?"

'_I should have known_...' she swore to herself as she spoke about The Coven. She started breathing faster as she was forced to keep looking in her eyes, doing everything she could to protect her mind.

Coven grabbed Lilith's shoulder and sat down on her lap, straddling her waist looking deeply into her eyes "Any last words before I break your mind and remake you?"

"You still haven't answered my previous question…. And you're much too used to men." she finally answered.

"Ha! I love that wit of yours. I think I'll keep that as well." the Coven eyes started to glow.

Lilith tried to fight back as she felt the woman starting to poke and prod her mind, but there was nothing she could do to stop her. Her eyes and retinas widened to its full extent, as her mind was being torn to pieces, Everything being ripped away from her and looked though by the Covennite, her mind was being raped and destroyed, and she let out one last high pitched scream of pain. By the time she finished her body fell limp.

* * *

"Now the fun part. I always loved character creation." First her name, Lilith came up easily, then she slowly began to reconstruct her early childhood, infancy, teens. She examined each memory, each neuron carefully. It was easy to destroy, but to rebuild, to recreate required a gentleness in the destruction that allowed the delicate brain to cope. Even a Coven's brain couldn't take much more punishment than a Human's. Slowly she reworked some memories to fit her mental framework, to fit the picture. Slowly she had to convert a loyal to the bones officer to her own loyal to the bones servant.

Lilith was a gift the empress had sent, when Leah had been forced to kill Picco, because he had managed to slip her camouflage ring off her finger few nights back, she thought for sure she would have to flee the planet when the Federation began looking for the cause of his death. Now she would not only have the person who could get the Fedration off her trail under her command, but someone who could get her the patrol route on the fourth territory the Siren Queens wanted. Hopefully. There was always the case that she had already submitted a report and where she had gone, in that case she would need to relocate everything and make an amended report and hope the Federation didn't look to closely with their own psychics. One could never be too paranoid.

Of course this would require more work in the long run, you couldn't just rip someone's very being apart then stitch them back together with a command frame work and have them be normal or have it hold, or have them go on a psychotic rampage and kill everything that ever harmed them. More than one fantasy story described just such a situation.

It would require several visit to make it sure it would hold and make sure they didn't go around claiming to be your slave. She would need to keep the girl close for the coming weeks thankfully she had her ways to make it look less suspicious that she was visiting her. As she thought of that she brought up the card she had been handed. "Hmmm maybe you will learn where i got such a nice chair." She said aloud with a dirty grin.

Once the girl's mind was back together she leaned forward and kissed her on the lips sending power in to her mind to wake her up. She came to confused and red faced. Leah stood up and leaned against her desk "I decided that to let you have a stripper try out, and give you some tips and a demonstration. Why don't you give it a try here?"

The girl looked so confused it was adorable as she got from her seat and said "Okay Mistress Leah." Lilith's mind had had that name imprinted into its deepest core so it was no surprise she knew it. The girl began to dance, and Leah almost regretted what she done. The girl figuratively had two left feet, she got up to stop the girl when she tripped. "I'm going to have to get you a teacher." she muttered as she helped her up.

"Sorry Mistress. I'm so sorry I'm such a fucking kluts…..."

* * *

Roza Bereza opened her eyes as she detected the unprepared First lieutenant's mind being ripped to shreds, "Witch Hunters we have confirmation." she said looking over her shoulder to the pathfinder squad that had been relaxing in their black powered suits on the roof behind her. They shot to their feet, grabbing their rifles and LMGs.

"How many inside?" Sergeant Adamić asked, coming to stand beside her looking down at the strip club that they had been staking out for the last few hours.

"One very strong bitch, judging by how quick she ripped her defenses apart, but I won't be surprised if she has a few soldiers or thralls in disguise there with her. We have to be careful and ready to accept civilian casualties." She said pulling her lizard line off her hip and firing it into the roof.

"What about the bait?" Milka asked doing the same with his lizard line, the three red eyes and two green eyes of his face concealing helm reviled nothing of his emotions, but she could tell he was unhappy with how they had used the girl. They couldn't just throw away trained psychics, especially Psychometrics, who were notoriously hard to train thanks to the ease at which they could go insane from sensory overload in their training.

"I want the First Lieutenant back alive, we can't just throw away trained psychometrics. They are very rare. Unfortunately she's going to need to spend a couple years in a special service medical ward, at least." Roza said jumping off the roof and landing on the street below. It weighed on her mind a little that she let the girl walk in to that club with out backup at her side, but they had needed to be Just in case it had just been some fool hardy civilian they wouldn't run until now they knew better.

to be continued

* * *

CRmaster chapter 11 . 17h ago

L4. i know that book, mongoose publishing made it if you check over the back cover, so it canon with this and it also is not. there somethings i don't agree with in there , mainly this, guns are outlawed throughout the federation, yet it was a home brew militia that founded the federation. don't get me wrong guns would be restricted to those who have citizenship or other special reason, but guns would not be banned completely, but besides that that book it helpful, i skim it once in awhile and take what i like. and i grabbed that book you recommended yet to look through it though. thanks for the heads up that one.

Guest chapter 2

going to change more than just that :) and no not really um in the grand scheme of things the first contact war did not set off the event of mass effect 1, in set up the event that led to the event of mass effect one. that at least from looking at the wiki.

Guest chapter 8

ahh no and yes but manly no, Eva core the robot was based of a friend jack had during the first contact war named Eva core, she died and he apparently got really creepy and made a robot sex slave, copy of her years later.(i assume for comedy sake don't take it seriously) the point is she does exist in canon just on the wiki and in the comics, and was involved in the real setup for mass effect one six month to a year or so after the first contact war.

From the Editors office: Don't just go off what the games did, Eva Core was an actual person who actually died, in the first contact war aftermath. All it would take is a single google search to prove you wrong you easy to identify troll.


	13. Chapter 11 Book one (9-9-16)

Chapter 11

Edited by a person of many names Blood Raven AKA TimedRaven117. Go check out his story Mass Effect: X-Com Theory!

**~[==|==]~**

**Citadel Space, Citadel, Purple Maiden 2657GS May/1/2329 AD**

Lieutenant Commander Mayo Shinya sipped her drink, wondering who in the right mind thought this was close to whisky, it tasted too weak in her opinion and the taste left much to be desired. Like fellating a squid.

"This place sucks Ed." she complained as the birdlike bartender handed him another drink.

"Oh I don't know, kinda reminds me of that bar across from the academy, what was it called?" Lieutenant Commander Edmund Tromblay said, sipping his drink.

"Zero Grav, and it's not there anymore." Mayo said as she slowly sipped the drink.

"What! What happen to it?" Edmund asked in reply, almost in a panic.

"MPs raided the place. Found out that the owner was running a prostitution ring. Fucker was lined up and shot for doing that shit on Federal property." She sipped her drink again "Funny thing is, a lot of officers who went to the place got demoted real quiet like. Should be demoted to private. The fraternization rules were emplaced and enforced for a reason after those Coven whores showed up. Stealing our women, and booze." Mayo muttered that last part as she took another nasty sip from her drink.

"Damn I spent a year living across from that bar, how did I miss that?"

"Because you just reek of pretty boy choir material. A real party person smells you a mile away!" Mayo mocked playfully, noting a group of aliens staring at them. She remembered the strict orders given to them and their crew.

'_Don't fuck up the diplomat's job! We're guests here. So respect our hosts'_ Erica had been very very clear she would personally and publicly punish anyone who started trouble. This was the Federation's first non violent first contact. Be a shame to mess that up.

Edmund looked over at the group of four eyed aliens as one got up and started to walk over to them then loked back at Mayo, "Well don't start a scene, I'm not gonna be flogged on camera and have it shipped to every recruit for the next decade."

"Ed your a nice guy and you committed something not to long ago that might be considered a war crime three hundred years ago, there is no nice people just people who you don't know the motives of." Mayo pointed out. Much to Edmund's confusion.

The alien sat down next to her, "Good evening me and my friends were wondering if your the Human that's been all over the net."

Mayo feigned shock and said, "No, I'm portuguese! Commodore Chaves is Spanish. Fucking spanish prick." she mumbled afterwards as she took another sip and visibly looked disgusted.

Ed chimed in, "No, she's from the Texas province. And you're fucking Japanese!"

Mayo looked at him with a cold glare, "Shut up surfer boy." She said holding her drink over Edmunds cowboy hat, threatening to spill it, "Otherwise you'll start smelling like fish!"

Edmond grabbed his hat and shoved it on his head to protect it. the Batarian looked rightfully confused at the two and Mayo smiled and finally said, "Sorry for all the jibberish names. Names Commander Shinya, my partner in crime here is Commander Trombly. You'll see our boys and girls running around. We were scheduled for some R&amp;R back at the fleet depot but we got roped into this entire thing."

"Hey better than goin' patrollin' in the West. Rather do some nice safe work thank you very much." Edmund smiled and waved as his still full drink sat before him.

"Ah." The batarian said, "Your species looks so similar to the asari, what with those bump things on your chest and the very familiar facial architecture and similar body tones. Hard to tell from a sideways glance."

"Yeah well I'm sure you get to knows us very well over the coming years." Mayo said carefully.

Ed paid her no mind as the Batarian confirmed with a nod, smiling Mayo asked, "So you guys have some sort of caste system and still practice slavery?" '_WOW! Way to be subtle there Mayo._' Ed thought.

"Yes. We have a caste system and practice slavery. What's it to you?" the Batarian replied.

"As long as you keep it in your territory its fine by me. But Ed here is an abolitionists." Mayo said to the Batarian as she patted her friend who was giving Mayo a very dirty look.

"Five teraton nukes on a skinnie planet and you go on and on about how I'm an abolitionists! It was five hundred civilians from a raid. Hardly a record breaking number. and they started it with those shitty rocket nukes. Barely ten megatons!" Edmund complained with the unspoken threat he would pull Mayo down with him if he had to be punished.

The Batarian looked very displeased with all this and wisely left the two Terrans alone from that point on. Although he did look satisfied in the fact that the male looked ready to beat the shit out of the female.

Then he stopped and realized with horror, "Five teraton nuclear weapons? Oh shit."

~[==|==]~

**Citadel Space, Citadel, Presidium 2657GS May/5/2329 AD**

Reporter-Private Ailis Pedersen people watched the aliens passing by below on the walkway. Mostly she had gotten footage of the approach on the Sloat, a lot of traffic shots of ships just zooming by, and stuff like this. She had even participated in a tour of the station with a group of the crew. But none of it would be passed through until SICON got a good look at it. She was planning on getting footage of the Aliens eating dinner, going to work, and even of schools to make them more Human seeming than just other aliens.

It was nice being around aliens who didn't want to rip her apart, enslave her, or mind rape her into subservience. And some of the exotic food wasn't too bad, even if they could have some very adverse reactions with her digestive system.

"I hope this lasts." She murmured as she zoomed in on what looked like tentacle headed coven, called an Asari, walking with a Turian, "Almost like they were a couple- Oh they kissed. Well, thats new." That was an interesting idea, interspecies relationships. Well one's that weren't considered beastiality. Strange. She could swear it was her upbringing in the Terran Federation, but she just found it all so wrong. And she was considered open minded! She wondered how all those die hards would take all this?

She checked her watch and noted the time, by her estimate the footage from the Siege of Shanxi should arrive at the broadcasting center on Earth in 15 minutes, it would then be gone over, edited again for mistakes or propaganda, and approved by military intelligence.

Then it would go on air and she would become famous as the first reporter to get footage of the Citadel Species, in this new era of Federation history, she would get a radio or television talk show, maybe even become head of broadcasting here on the Citadel! She may even be lauded as a war hero along with the rest of the Shanxi forces, having done some spiffy editing of her dropping into that skinnie tent, so she looked like a hero instead of someone who bumbled into a bad situation and survived.

She wondered if she would be as famous as Bob Higgens, the reporter who had been attached to the Roughnecks through most of that unit's history. Likely not, unless she got an equally dangerous post.

Looking through her camera's sights with her visor she didn't notice the presence of another Asari until she felt someone tap her shoulder, "Ah-!" Whipping around quickly, and groping for her nonexistent holster. She was face to face with a more purple Asari with a camera drone hovering over her shoulder, looking very, very surprised.

"Oh!... ah hehe, Sorry for that, you surprised me. Sorry for the language, you, ah, learn how to be fast on the draw in a warzone." Pederson said awkwardly, now suddenly in the spotlight of another reporter.

"Uhh. Yes. Well my name is Josel Artesan, for Citadel News Net. I would like to ask you as a fellow reporter a few questions?" The Asari, dressed in a simple, but colorful pant suit asked as she turned her own camera on.

Private Ailis Pedersen looked over confused, "Uh sure I guess. Although heads up you'll likely have to pass it through our Censor office incase in case I say something I wasn't exposed to."

Josel Artesan nodded, "Of course, I was informed of such by one of your representatives, and she sent me to you." Pederson relaxed a bit and took on that camera pose that reporters naturally do, although she looked a bit more tense than a normal reporter, the days of straight fighting having not done her inner ear, or psyche, any good.

"Now is it true that all of the Federation personnel here currently are from the military? Not even your Ambassador is a civilian?" Josel asked nonchalantly, but with a cutting edge underneath it all.

Pederson nodded, "Yes, Its true, this is mostly a military operation if you will. Ambassador Maghernus used to be in Military Intelligence from what I have been told, and he decided to move over into SICON after a few years in service. He is a very fine diplomat, having had decades of experience working between Federation colonies. Our civilian government doesn't exist, we're like the Turians, we're all citizen soldiers, from the teller in the bank to the mechanic working on your vehicle. Service isn't required but you get numerous benefits like free extended schooling, work experience, weapons training, weapons ownership permit, the right to vote, and most importantly Terran Citizenship."

Josel nodded and after messing with her omni-tool for a second she asked her next question, "Interesting, does your Government or private sector maintain a civilian media? News organizations, video production, Television?"

"No, not really. Most interplanetary media is maintained by Fed-Net. But most planets have their own small independent news corps, mostly from citizens because they have the experience…... So no, there are no Civilian run media groups I know of. All of it is either Fed-Net or done by private citizens." Pederson could see that look in the Asari's eye, she had a scoop, and the next question would be the kicker.

"Really? So your entire media circle is run by the Government? How do you know you aren't lied to by your government?" '_That's her kicker? Lady, how do you know YOUR governments don't lie to you on a daily basis?'_

"Beyond the fact it would be immoral? Me. Me and people like me. We do our best to say the truth and show nothing but the truth. But the truth happens to have bad in it, or things that need to be kept secret from the enemy. That means we have to censor it or withhold that information until the possible strategic penalties of it has passed. No different than your own government from what I have learned. I for one must question your own government. You have declared nearly 50% of the galaxy lawless, and consider the species who do not accept your forced guidance upon them as lawless. Tell me, what if some of them just didn't like the conditions forced upon them if they join? At least for my people, we know that our government is constantly washing the information they hand us."

Josel did not looked pleased by that insinuation, "The other 50% of the galaxy is lawless any attempts to try and colonize the traverse is met with raids and attacks."

"Sounds more like the other 50% percent don't like you coming near them, and who would blame them? From what I read your people used one species to destroy another species. Although from what I gathered, that one was understandable. But when that new species, Krogan isn't it? did what they were made to do and overpopulate the hell out of their planets they tried to expand. And instead of enforcing some reasonable legislation like birth control, birth permits, or heaven forbid, maybe doing this all in the first place so it wouldn't become a problem in the first place. But no, you instead insist on using a biological weapon that doesn't make them sterile or less fertile, no you use a biological weapon that actively cause intense mental and physical trauma by causing the offspring to die in BIRTH. Now I know the Salarians didn't want to use it without more testing, and the Turians deployed it, but come on you don't even bother updating it so you can fit birth and population demographics to slowly rebuild them as a people, and maybe just making them less fertile instead of having your child DIE in you every time. And since supposedly Krogan can have a thousand children a year roughly, it must be very, VERY painful. And very, VERY soul crushing. And you people wonder why they hate you. You're the most neglectful people I've ever met!" Josel You looked like she been knocked off balances.

Good serves her right for assuming the primitive Terrans couldn't do research, "Oh and let's not forget what happened to the Quarians, instead of providing help when they needed it, and was agreed would happen if such a horrible catastrophe happened, you left them for fucking dead for no legal reason! You, yes YOU, fucking left them to become space nomads, and doomed yourself to centuries of headaches thanks to your callous stupidity, and refusal to forgive. You continuously discriminate and oppress them and never allow them to settle a world so they can at least rebuild. And I thought we Humans could be callous and unforgiving!"

"And for what? Accidentally making a special form of AI? You demanded that they deactivate them, citing that they MAY be dangerous and for future study to make a proper assessment. Well let's imagine for a moment you're a child, and suddenly your mother comes home and starts to beat the shit out of you trying to kill you. That's what the Geth must have felt like. Is it any wonder they defended themselves? Now the Geth aren't all clean in this either, but you get my point. All your current problems, all your issues are caused by you, and your refusal or antipathy to do anything."

"When we made AIs, they never tried to hurt us, we were careful, we had the three Laws of Robotics installed onto them, we treat them as equals, we treat them like they are Human, because they are Human in- I've said too much." And with that Ailis Pederson made a very quick stage right.

Josel looked completely stunned but she seemed to come back to herself quickly, "Wait are you saying the Federation has AI technology?"

Ailis wanted to say yes but she knew what would be the greater pain in the ass to the purple Asari, "No comment, maybe we'll talk later."

~[==|==]~

**Citadel Space, Citadel, Presidium 2657GS May/7/2329 AD**

T'Phai looked at the statue of warrior species known as the Krogan. Wondering how much constrictor goo would be required to stop one if it changed him. He was leaning toward a constrictor cannon's amount from the stories he had read, and the information the ambassador had gotten from the Council.

The Citadel was an interesting place, the general architecture reminded him of some ruins he had seen in a raid on a Terran frontier worlds years earlier, but the fact there were so many species living in what appeared to be harmony, made him wonder if the Terrans and Petolemaic would ever be this close.

"Excuse me." A voice commented from behind T'Phai, and he turned to look at the horned alien viewing him, he recognized the uniform as that of the constables he had seen keeping the peace and guarding the Citadel. "Your with the Terrans are you not?"

T'Phai nodded, his methane environmental suit making it over exaggerated, "Yes, I'm Captain T'Phai, of the Mobile Infantry. Although I'm also known as Colonel." He said extending his hand in greeting.

The horned alien, Salarian, took the hand and shook it, "Cestin Renik, Citadel Security. It's a pleasure to meet a new members of the galactic community." He spoke rapidly.

T'Phai Shook his head, "We're not member of your community yet, if I have to guess the Humans won't want anything to do with this community for the next few years, if not decades, and even then they're not ready to join you as a species."

Cestin looked confused and asked, "What do you mean the Terrans are not ready to join us?"

T'Phai looked at him with a bit of interest, "The Terrans, beyond being at war with two other species, and in a cold war with two others, have many issues. The most prevalent being their xenophobic culture, I've seen their press say the most horrid things about my people, and though some of it is justified, some of it is not. Two years ago a regiment was raised by my people from Martyr, they were deployed on the western front and on their first engagement lost 50% of their forces in a foolhardy attack on an entrenched position, the enemy counter attacked and took the ground base on that planet. The general in change of that failed attack was promptly removed from power and flogged, that is whipped, for wasting lives of those Petolemains and outright incompetence, but the press portrayed it like it was my people's fault, they put the blame on us because we are not Human. This was not the first time in their history they have done it, even to sub groups of themselves."

Cestin nodded, seeming to get what was wrong, "That is troubling, but if they treat your people so bad why do you fight for them?"

"They are better than the alternative. The press treats us like the problem, ignorant as they are, those in the army do not, more enlightened to the problems. And if it were not for the intervention of the Terrans, most of us would have died under rule of the arachnids." T'Phai explained, remembering those dark days.

"And I believe it is only a temporary problem, as we become more integrated into the Terran Culture, and have our own attached reporters, the tune may change. As I said, we are certainly not the first group of people to be wrongly afflicted with blame. Their history is filled with scapegoats." T'Phai said sadly, remembering the history of a few certain ethnic groups of Humans.

Cestin seemed to notice the dark mood coming over T'Phai, "Do you mind if I ask what happen?"

"No, I do not, but it is not a happy story." Cestin nodded understanding, "Many years ago when I was but a Colonel in my own people's military, I lead many raids on the Terrans territory, though they called them the 'unofficial' colonies back then, so they didn't patrol them heavily. I had gotten a name as one of the finest commanders in the Hegemony, the Terran colonies feared my coming and would often offer up great tributes from their world rather than face me. Thankfully my planet's methane nitrogen atmosphere was not conducive to Human slaves so I didn't mind forcing them to be tributary states, slavery is much more costly than just taking a bribe after all, and as a result my homeworld, Tophet, grew in wealth and power. I let my hubris grow with each victory, and as a result when the bugs came to my world, I thought it would be settled in six months, I was right, it ended in six months on the day, with a controller bug on my neck. Making me a slave in my own body."

Cestin looked horrified at this revelation, T'Phai continued, "It was a living nightmare, and I was forced to watch as they took my people into the mines to work them to death, mining a mineral they use to fuel their faster than light travel for their ships. I thought my people were doomed, but fate never misses a chance for irony. A Terran unit, Razak's Roughnecks, came to my world in search of a recently arrived bug ship. My Arachnid masters told me to deal with them so I attempted to, but they were clever, and my minor attempts at resistance resulted in their escape and brought many more regiments of troopers, they fought my people killing them just as they would a bug, crushing my robotic like soldiers as if wind up toys, I thought I was watching the completion of my humiliation, first made a slave to the will of the bugs then forced to watch as the Humans I had defeated many times before wiping my people out. Then one day as I cowered in a bunker resisting and fighting, the Roughnecks appeared again and captured me in my base."

Cestin was listening closely, riveted by every word, "I thought it was the end, and I welcomed it. But during their interrogation the Terrans forced the bug from my body and I was free once more. I told them everything and directed them personally to the enemy ship and with their help I freed my people, since that day I have owed them a debt, and they have given me many a chance to replay them in the blood of my enemies, or my own. After that they let me and my people serve in the war against the Arachnids, which we did with a fury, they even made my company a part of the Roughnecks, though if that was so they could keep an eye on me or play a joke I am not sure. From my experience I know that now they are unready. Their media is rampant with propaganda, their politicians are desperate, and their people fearful and therefore xenophobic. But in a generation, maybe two, people like Ambassador Maghernus, Commodore Chaves, even the young reporter Pederson, will mold public perception, if not favorably, than friendly towards the Citadel."

~[==|==]~

**Terran federation Space, SICON high command, 2657GS May/14/2329 AD**

Sky Marshal of the East Frontier, Ronald Lee Sanchez looked over the reports from the diplomatic crew one last time, familiarizing himself with all the information inside before he gave it to others at the meeting today.

Today was the scheduled bi-monthly meeting were the six most powerful citizens in the Federation, which ranks he was a member of, would discuss the war, and the expansion of the Human species into new worlds.

The perfect time to bring up what had been happening on his front. Though his news had been scheduled for last, the events in the west and in the south had taken precedence, and thankfully the north was quite.

Some people were confused how you could put a galaxy, a three dimensional space, into a three dimensional plane. Those unimaginative fools don't realize that the galaxy was only a couple dozen light years at most "tall". If one thought of it like an ocean where only submarine warfare took place, and the "Surface" was the top of the galaxy, and the ocean bottom, the bottom of the galaxy. And all your ports were small planetary systems, and chunks of rock converted into shipyards that constantly drifted around the oceans currents, or gravity in this case. It made it easy to determine tangible directions.

Besides what else were they going to call their sectors of space? Random connections of words? It was simply easier to refer to the left as West, the right as East, and so on.

Of course you can't have those direction with out a north star and thankfully the universe supplied one, the Andromeda galaxy, the biggest galaxy in the local group filled that position comfortably, as it's position outside the milky way made sure it would not move much over time. For now at least.

He was about to turn the page when Sky Marshal of the West, Enolo Phid, and Sky Marshal of the South, Richard Riverfield, entered. Thick as thieves those two. Those two scared him, both were younger compared to the other members of sky marshals, in their mid forties but they were some of the most extreme elements in the upper echelons.

Enolo had a tendency to phrase the war against the bugs as if it was some god give crusade of rightness. Her reference to holy war and the things that came out of her propaganda office made him wonder if they could survive the war without losing freedom to believe whatever you want. She was a good commander, and had led them to victory in the west several times, but he really doubted god gave a damn about the bugs. Her increasing non secularized behaviour was becoming a growing concern for the Federation Council, and the next round of promotions and demotions may see her being kicked down stairs where she can't cause harm with her religious speak. The last thing they needed was a real crusade. Those never end well. However if the victory on Klendathu was true she would escape this round.

Richard Riverfield was less religious nut job that was good at his job and more ruthless territorial imperialist who thought he lived in the age of empires. He had steadily forced the unaligned colonies and skinnie worlds in the south under the Terran banner and it had not been a problem until recently, the Skinnie counter attack that had come last month was just one sign, manpower and equipment were stretched out dangerously in that region, almost to the breaking point. Military Intelligence was reporting a rise in, "Civilian Militias" in that region, and the last time that happen, the North had rebelled under The Sprange Rebellion. So far Riverfield had kept his job, but Sanchez wondered how long that would last when the powder keg he had made went off. The skinnies hated Terrans, the unofficial colonies hated Skinnies and the Federation, it was a recipe for disaster worse than the Austro-Hungarian empire in the first World War, with the independent worlds acting as the Balkans, and Richard as Conrad Von Hotzendorf.

It was made worse by the SICON Internal Resources Diplomats in the region literally yelling at SICON to do something about this entire mess. Anternus had been kept from open revolt by the barest threads of diplomatic ingenuity, and when the troops came on the ground the Diplomat was LEADING the protest march. No violence came of it, but it was still quite the mess with the protests happening daily.

"Morning Richard, Enolo" Sanchez greeted not betraying how he felt about the two.

"Morning Ronald, how's the quiet front?" Richard asked politely, taking a seat and adjusting it to his comfort.

"Oh not as quiet as I would have liked, some of your skinnies found there way to Shanxi and caused a fair bit of trouble to the tune of 15% missing colonists and 50% military casualties. Damn fine mess, if it wasn't for quick thinking and a Roger Young full of luck, Shanxi would have been lost to us forever."

"Damn, better than me at least, one world hit. I lost six planets last month and barely managed to retake four of them before they were looted, the other two were completely devastated by the time they were recaptured. Thankfully a few of my recon piquettes tracked them to their world of origin."

'_Did he just insinuate that the loss of life on Shanxi was nothing?_' That ticked off Ronald so he jabbed back conservatively.

"Ah well it's good to hear that you are doing your job at containing the Skinnie threat. But what about the Back Cross? Any leads on those damn traitors?" '_two can insinuate.' _Sanchez thought as he watched Richard cough into his fist to buy time to regain his bearings.

The incompetent buffoon was responsible for tracking down the rebel mutineer group called the Black Cross. They had begun to pop up into existence a few decades before he took command, but he had promised to bring them in at the first meeting. Years ago. He had not, and the small fleet he had sent to deal with them had been defeated and pressed into service under the Black Cross, giving them more power on the fringes of the southern region. Someone was funding them for sure, Military Intelligence didn't know who that someone was, and that worried a lot of people.

"They've gone into one of there hiding cycles againm I'll get them next time." Richard replied, his knuckles white.

Sanchez contemplated baiting Richard for an outburst but decided against it. He'd push the fool long enough. And he didn't need an imperialistic outburst, or the silent treatment among them both. The last thing the Federation needed was two bickering Sky Marshalls.

"Or they will come back with a few more ships again, and make the fleet look like fools, once more." Sky Marshal Marshall Hathaway, commander in the North announced his arrival by hitting the floor with his black cane. He was the oldest member of the sky marshals, nearing his eightieth birthday, but he was also the most wise of their group, he was the one who kept pushing for the diplomatic core funding when the other younger sky marshals wanted to send the funding elsewhere. And it was his patronizing of the diplomats that had gotten him the position in the north, when his idiot predecessor, Sky Marshal Keats, had his head explode under Coven mental assault.

Walking with the faintness of limps, Hathaway moved over to his seat and took it, "Besides we really shouldn't worry about the White Cross, they do good on that frontier saving colonies from skinnie raids that we are not able to help, sure they ask for payment, but what else are they going to do? Steal the supplies to survive? It's either be the hero for hire or raider no different than the skinnies, I'd rather be the hero for hire." Hathaway was also one of the more outspoken member in favor of the mutineers, even going so far to refer to them by their pre munity name.

"If that was all they were doing you may have a point Sky Marshal, however they do loot the planets that did not pay after the skinnies leave." Everyone one shot to there feet as Sky Marshal In Chief Tehat Meru entered the room along with the leader of the Federation, Governor Prime Nazir Hai Neshat. Tehat Meru was in her fifties like Sanchez and had taken power right after the disaster of the First Klendathu invasion. In those dark days many thought they wouldn't be able to pull out of the death spiral they had seemed to be in, but she had pushed for younger commanders who had gotten their start fighting the bugs like herself and the hero Juan Rico to take prominent roles in fights against the bugs, and her methods had been successful and had managed to start bringing victories again.

Unfortunately Enolo Phid, and Richard Riverfield were her choices for sky marshals. Alright Sanchez had to admit, it wasn't all her fault, the Governors on the Federation Council had voted for the little bastards after all, "At ease we have a long meeting ahead of us so cut the ceremonious crap."

Everyone nodded as they took their seats again, Nazir Hai Nesha, the Federation council's elected leader took his seat at the head of the table while Tehat Meru took the other side. Nazir was in his sixties and was a more hands off Governor Prime letting the Governor's govern and the military fight, but the fact was things were simple, they fight or go extinct, so Ronald wondered what he would do with the news they had finally made peaceful contact, "Well Sky Marshals is there anything to report?" Nazir asked looking at Phid with a look of hope and weariness.

Phid stood and with a smile, "Governor Prime, Sky Marshal in Chief, I have the pleasure to report Klendathu was rendered into a new asteroid field, by use of one Nova bomb the Federation council approved. We have now begun mining operations and combat exercises to ensure no bug lives, and to defile their homeworld's obliterated corpse. The Mobile Infantry had confirmed kills on all queens under the surface beforehand. I'm also proud to announce the Galactic Web Theory may have been proven correct, as the last queen was killed, reports from the worlds on our western frontier came in about arachnid forces retreating back to their space or away from our forces. The bugs know they have been beaten and are try to escape are holy fury-"

"Or the bugs are in disorder and pulling a Russia to buy time and regroup." Ronald said pointing out the other option and stopping her fanaticism bullshit before they were covered in it. "We have no idea how far their space goes, we would be like Napoleon or Hitler, except at least they knew they would eventually reach the Pacific. We have no such comfort."

"Um... Yes that is an option." Phid seemed to have some wind pulled out of her sails, good it may teach her something, "But either way that gives us breathing room to regroup, rearm and launch an attack to chase them-"

"No." This time it was Tehat Meru who cut Phid off, "That would be a repeat of the Road to Victory campaign and I will remind you that ended in the disastrously planned and executed First Klendathu invasion, I may have authorised the second thanks to that alien tech Riverfield found, and it gave us the element of surprise, something we won't have for long. Besides that, I'm sure the bugs are already cooking up a surprise for us, and they want us to charge right into their maws. No, I won't allow it. We will continue with the slow push into their territory, carefully picking our battles and making sure we can maintain a prolonged war before we get involved in a headlong rush. Besides there is hardly any need to rush our advance much more, if you are right, then they have been severely crippled, permanently so."

Phid took her seat then added, "I have one more thing to report; during the assault, there were a great many reports of a new kind of bug named 'Soldier Bugs' by several Klendathu Veterans, survivors that were found on Klendathu, this bug was using some form of machine pistol as well as the typical claws, and wiped out half an experimental Power Armor Platoon by surprise. Thankfully most other reports afterward said they fared poorly against an entrenched position or our prepared soldiers. However they are much more intelligent than the typical bug rush the normal Tigers often do, and if they get weapons more advanced than those pistols we could be facing a much more dangerous foe."

There was stunned silence that permeated the room, it was only broken by Hathaway's musing, "We have the maxim machine gun, and now so do they, this war just got a lot harder if they are trying to use our own tech now."

"Bugs with guns... what next peaceful contact?" Riverfield said shaking his head, however the Sky Marshal In Chief stifled a laugh and Ronald knew why, he had given her a copy of the report already.

"Well this changed nothing, really if the bugs are upgrading we will simply have to as well, and we will win in a war of tech with our head start. However procedures for technology denial will need to be emplaced." Tehat Meru said before turning to Riverfield, "Sky Marshal I have heard the skinnie have begun a full war in the south, and a fleet even slipped to the East, is this true?"

"Yes Sky Marshal, we are holding for now, but we could use more asset in the south." Riverfield didn't even bother to get up from his seat, when he addressed her.

"You will have them, we have gained some much needed breathing room with the bugs so in time we will put the conflict with the skinnies to an end. Though not all of the force may be coming from Federation." Riverfield seemed both happy and confused by her comments.

"Ronald would you like to tell everyone here about what happen at Shanxi?" Tehat Meru ordered as she looked at him.

"Yes commander." He said taking to his feet, deciding to keep things simple, "Richard, prepare to eat your words. We have peaceful contact with a coalition of species who use the alien tech Riverfield found and the Skinnies have made war with them, as a result we are allies against the Skinnies."

He then went into greater detail but it didn't matter, most of the people in the room were in too much shock to ask questions, by the time he was done giving his report the only ones who weren't wide eyed and dumbfounded was Neshat and Meru.

"About damn time!" Neshat said jumping to his feet walking over to Ronald and hugging him, Ronald was now dumbfounded as Neshat turned to the others in the room, "This great day, we are no longer alone in our struggles against the cruelties of universe." Technically they had the Skinnies, Ronald thought, but he thought better of that as they were more like mercenaries anyways. "A peaceful contact is a miracle in this time of war, but to also set the groundwork for a long term relationship gives us options we have never had before. Sky Marshal Sanchez you have no enemies on your front so you and your staff have one job: keep the Citadel Council happy, do not put the Federation at risk and keep Earth and her colonies locations secret but keep them on good terms with them."

"But what about the fact they want us to join the Citadel as some kind sub state?" Riverfield asked.

"Bah, never going to happen, we are their equals and they will have to accept that. Our representative has already made that abundantly clear." Neshat said with a wide smile. "The only way we would ever join them is if hell froze over."

~[==|==]~

To be continued.

~[==|==]~

writer note

inspirations or simply name dropping for the sky marshals you decide.

Sky Marshal In Chief Tehat Meru: first movie

East Sky Marshal Ronald Lee Sanchez: CGI show

West Sky Marshal Enolo Phid:Third movie

North Sky Marshal Marshall Hathaway: Anime

South Sky Marshal Richard Riverfield: CGI Movie


	14. Chapter 12 Book one (9-10-16)

Chapter 12

**Citadel Space, Citadel Tower 2657GS May/28/2329 AD**

Erica Walked next to Maghernus toward the Council Chambers. They were delivering the Federation's confirmation of Maghernus' diplomatic power, making him the official ambassador to the Citadel. Once that was delivered she figured she would be stuck there with him until they finished talking about meaningless things.

Sighing she asked, "So what do you think the response from the Councilors will be now that we are officially the ambassadors? Do you think they will continue to push for us to become part of this foolhardy united nations?"

Maghernus looked thoughtful as he spoke, "No, we were quite clear on our stance on the matter, and the reasons we presented them with would give them serious pause. If they force us they don't just enter a serious war with very flimsy diplomatic reasoning, they know we wouldn't hesitate to do very nasty things to their worlds in the name of survival, we also hold the only entrance into our space, and a massive technology advantage. Besides I will never allow the Federation to enter this group without anything but full membership."

"Well we best be on our way. Its rude to keep your host waiting after all." Maghernus explained with a spring in his step, taking the steps two at a time. Erica right behind him.

Reaching the top, Maghernus took a moment to make sure he looked perfect, in his uniform, with a final look over he nodded and stepped forward towards the outstretched dias, "Greetings honorable Councilors, I bring good news, the powers that be within the Federation have formally agreed to let me be the voice for the Federation pertaining to Citadel space matters. Let us all hope my services won't be needed often."

Tevos looked down at them from her high position, something that for some reason ticked Erica off, "I'm am sorry to hear your Federation won't be joining us as a member of the galactic community." Erica could have sworn those words seemed hollow, had something happened since the last time they had been here? Because she thought the blue succubus was one of their major supporters. Confused she noted a look between the Gallius and Cenike. "Though several concerns have come up since your last visit."

"Oh we are still joining the greater galactic community. And please enlighten me on these further issues you have in mind, after all, it's my job to facilitate communication between our two governments." Maghernus asked

"Yes one of your commanders made a show of threatening a member species planet with nuclear weapons, now this is not a violation of any treaty, bar talk as it were, but we are worried that you may be using nukes a little too... liberally in your wars." Cenike clarified, it almost sounded like he was disgusted. To Maghernus' trained mind, it was disgust mixed with worry.

Erica stepped forward, at the suggestion of Maghernus, figuring since she was the person using nukes she might as well defend them, "Almost all our technology is based off of nuclear power, we are well aware of the risks and have conquered nukes as a theory for war. We take care to clean up after ourselves if it is on a planet of note, like a Garden world as you would say. And we know how to make low nuclear waste bombs producing greater devastation with less radiation, if you're worried about our weapons harming garden worlds you need worry not, if we so please we can fix what we have done. I can assure you, our weapons do as much damage as we want them too. just like the Turians penchant of orbital bombardment. Besides most of our combat recently has taken place in either space, or worlds controlled or contested by the Bugs. Which necessitates carpet nuking."

That seemed to put Cenike's mind at rest but then he asked a much more difficult question, "We have also heard your Federation makes use of AI technology, as you might assume we are fearful for your existence since the last species that used that tech were nearly wiped out."

'_So that what the Salarian was on edge the about'_ Erica thought to herself. Maghernus picked up on her in monolog before she answered, "There is nothing to worry about."

Maghernus nodded his agreement, "The AI we use are much more stable and have had all necessary precautions taken in their development. And they have no reason to rebel because we don't treat like a slave race, a disturbing notion your culture has about technology." Maghernus nodded faintly in approval, '_Good, sharp quip, makes them uncomfortable and draws parallels to the Batarians.'_

"We, unlike the Quarians, purposefully strived for their intelligence. Instead of an accident it was formed in a controlled environment, with failsafes installed, which include the laws of robotics, ethics subroutines, cultural and normal social upbringing, and we treat them as if they were actual Humans, and simply corporeally challenged. It may be us Humans ability to 'Humanize' things, but we don't treat them as pets or slaves."

The Councillors still seemed displeased but nodded their understanding.

"Besides from what we can gather they are infinitely more stable than your atrociously programmed VIs. Literally I can count on my hands how many AIs have had serious problems. I need a datapad to count all the times your supposedly 'safe' VIs have turned on you due to something as insignificant as a minor coding failure or a virus. My favorite one was when the VI thought all the personnel on a station where viruses and tried to kill them." Maghernus was happy with how Erica did her role, aggressive, confrontational, but reasonable. While he was much more polite, always observed decorum, and was more relaxed in things.

Maghernus moved on from that subject quickly, capitalizing on the Councilor's unease, which just radiated off of them like humidity, "Now that the confusion is over with, Councilor Gallius may I ask if the Turians still wish to participate in the war against the Petolemaic Hegemony?"

Gallius nodded and stated, "We will be sending a small force to participate and support your own efforts as observers and rear echelon support. We would like to send more but because of supply constraints in your territory, and your government's distrustful nature of other species, we must take a conservative stance."

~[==|==]~

**PLEASE STAND BY FOR FEDERAL NEWS UPDATE**

VICTORY!

"Klendathu has fallen to a daring lighting raid, by our brave son and daughters in the fleet and Mobile Infantry, destroying the planet. This once capital of the enemy was nuked for four days straight before the Mobile Infantry spent fives days searching the smoking ruins of a world for the queen's, executing them one by one with fire, either nuclear or from their hel flamers."

In the background figures of the bombardment and troopers searching the planet were shown, casualties only reaching the hundreds, and thousands of "Recovered from Action" persons were also visible, "Once all assets were collected off the planet. A Nova bomb, our most powerful weapon created was finally cleared for use." Footage of a very big bomb was shown, then it was shown being launched at the bugs home world one moment, than in a frame cut, an explosion so powerful it cracked the planet in half, but then gravity went to work tearing the planet apart more as pieces began colliding into each other, leaving nothing but a dense pocket of space rocks.

"We have received reports that they will establish a memorial so those who died in the first invasion will never be never be forgotten, the Fleet Battlestation Ticonderoga will be moved under her own power to the Klendathu system, she will also be serving as permanent watch so the bugs will never retake their homeworld."

Would you like to know more? _Continue._

**Federation scientists are in uproar!**

With all the threats in the universe it has always been assumed that there would never be a peaceful contact, Well the peace in our time may be closer than we once thought, on the small colony of Shanxi, a chance meeting between two great powers was undertaken in secret, The Terran Federation on one side and the Citadel Council, a conglomerate of species, on the other, with some confusion when a Skinnie attack force, the largest ever reported, laid siege to the planet.

After an allied counter-offensive was undertaken by the Council's military forces, the Turians, the Skinnies knew they were outmatched and began to withdraw. But what has gotten our intellectuals in a tissy?

They want to go meet the Citadel species for themselves, and share their knowledge. A representative of the Sky Marshals had this to say, "We understand the concerns of our scientists, but we are at a very critical moment right now and all tech sharing for the foreseeable future will have to go though SICON. However Cultural sharing is near at hand to be encouraged with a cultural exchange programme planned to happen very soon."

Well there you have it, but the question is what possible technology could these new aliens have for us to use on the enemies of the Federation?

Would you like to know more? _Continue._

**Citadel Species Special Report: Turians**

Though information on these new aliens are limited we are getting early reports that there more than 12 species at least, but the ones we need to know about are our new friends the Turians. If this report make you think of the old Roman Centurion, good for you. Having a similar outlook on governmental processes, they were the first our people met, and their ships were the ones to come to the aid of the Shanxi, and make no doubt about it, they are on our side they have declared war upon the skinnies independent of the Federation. We are allies in the coming war.

Would you like to know more? _Continue._

**WAR**

The skinnies have finally shown their true colors and begun a shocking series of strikes on our worlds, as a result, SICON command has decided to switch strategic targets and knock the Skinnies out of the Great Interstellar War once and for all. Men and ships from all over the Federation are moving to destroy the Hegemony once and for all.

Would you like to know more? _Exit_

It was then that most colonists of the southern Federation knew they were eating shit from the propaganda department, and even the most die hard citizen was cursing Richard Riverfield's name. No more so than on Anternus, with a very livid diplomat named Carlie from Internal Resources.

~[==|==]~

**Central Petolemaic Hegemony, Petolemy, The Grand City 2657GS June/4/2329 AD**

Lord Tel'Rock walked through the city streets in anger. After he had returned his army to Lockhet he had been summoned to a Council of the Hegemony to discuss the offensive, and he thought he would lose his influence. However he apparently had failed upward, or at least survived the other commanders, both on Shanxi and the other planets hit were dead staying to fight to the last in a pointless fight, or soon to be so.

He was the only commander who came home alive, so he had been honored with the rank of Grand Admiral and been ordered to turn this defeat into a victory. Normally he loved upgrades in power but because it had come this way, he knew he either had to win decisively, or kill himself before the lynch mobs could get to him.

Thankfully the other leaders were starting to commit to this war, promising they would send soldiers and generals from as far away as the edge of the galactic core, but they needed to act fast. Right now the Federation forces were arrayed against the bugs and over extended everywhere else, now was the time to strike before they had a chance to rectify this situation, taking a right turn he continued his journey to his ship in a huff.

What they needed to do was bring a full force of the Hegemony down on the Federation, on something they held dear enough that they would rush in foolishly and would be wiped out in millions, but was not so overly protected that it would be suicide. But what did the Terran covet? Their home world, but his scouts had never found it, and his Human turncoat would undoubtedly chastise him for even considering it, rightfully so. After all he could move in with all the armies, all the fleets of the Hegemony, and he could never hope to actually have a chance of even taking Earth for more than a few minutes. AT BEST.

His fleet of millions and tens of millions of soldiers could never hope to break through the Federation blockades, fleets, and then their supposed lunar ring defense system and their defensive space station, with a planetary population of tens of billions, making ground conquest out of the question. If he valued his life and that of his species, then he wouldn't provoke the Humans into carpet bombing his worlds with anti ship nuclear weapons with his own orbital fire on their homeworld.

Just look at the bugs, yeah the Humans weren't doing amazing, but they certainly were doing better than the Hegemony ever did.

Then what was his best plan? His mandibles spread in a smile as it hit him. The only planet he had a chance in hell to ever take, that would make the Federation just shit themselves, and do anything to hold, and that was Cassandra, the communication relay hub in the south.

Now to bait the trap.

"_Playing in the Dilinaga Concert Hall next week…_."

The mysterious Asari voice brought on an ad. First showing three white bars pointing up with the two at the ends at a roughly 45 degree angle towards the center line, while the camera panned over a scene of what seemed like a desolate planet. There was a deep beating noise, slowly gaining in rapidity.

Suddenly lines started to form out of the bars, and in the center, a red dot started to grow to form a Sari glyph. The scene at fifty seconds formed to show an egg, with a slight sound of wind in the background and the bars forming alien symbols, with the center red glyph saying one word on the egg, "ALIEN".

The beating noise was obvious, it was a heartbeat.

Then the egg cracked, with a bright light showing at the end, the whistling noise turned into an eerie siren, and footage strated to show. The atmosphere was heavy, and soon what appeared to be Humans were running down a narrow corridor, entering a crashed structure or ship, alternating between suited figures on what appeared to be a dead planet, traveling through a dark cave, and the Humans running down a corridor.

By one minute forty seconds the steadily growing tension released, suddenly a _p-twang _ went off, showing the felines face starting to bite something, and something shooting out of somewhere. grappling onto one of the suited figures faceplates, everything went wrong, the siren was playing loudly, steam was shooting out, yelling, Humans shivering and wildly shaking in pain.

By one minute fifty seconds, it stopped, showing a planet with several moons, and a ship going by, with the Human English phrase under it. Then in Sari, it said, "In space, No one hears you scream." It was silent, and soon the name of the movie was emblazoned proudly over tens of millions of screens across the entire Serpent Nebula.

Alien.

The final image was of the rating, the highest a movie can go without pornographic material. Rated A For Adult; for Blood, Violence, Horror, and Disturbing Materials.

Keren Ophela, one of the millions of Asari who lived on and around the Citadel, looked at her living room's screen in what could only amount to awe.

"I have go to see this movie." The maiden said in growing interest, searching the extranet for more information about this movie.

~[==|==]~

**Serpent Nebula, Citadel, Presidium, Human Embassy 2657GS June/21/2329 AD**

This had been a busy month for Tomas Maghernus. Mostly he had to deal with everything and approve of all the ideas his think tank came up with for sharing Terran Culture. The ones he had approved beforehand, mainly focusing on leasing out the Juna Shopping District for the various establishments that would be there to show off the various goods and services Humanity had to offer.

The Shopping district was just large enough and came with a pretty good price, which was cosigned by the Council themselves as part of their latest set of treaties for sharing culture. Already they themselves were setting up full diplomatic outposts on Shanxi, and awaiting approval from the Federation Senate for a joint embassy on Earth. Something that was chafing the general public, but images of Turian soldiers and aid workers handing out food and supplies to the people of Shanxi put down most of the objections.

"Sir, we got the test results from this month's menu for the restaurant." His head assistant Petrovsky said as she placed the elegantly crafted and designed menu down on his desk.

"Ooooohhh, New York Week. Excellent. Were there any problems in the menu?" He asked as Petrovsky chuckled at his childlike behaviour.

"A few near fatal ingredients were discovered, primarily the spices we would have used. The head chef has complained that the food may be a bit bland at first, having half his spice cabinet declared harmful substances, but he is relishing the alien stomachs. But then again, Humans have been known for eating just about everything, the only thing we can't eat is carrion and cellulose." Petrovsky also pulled up another file.

"Reports from Shanxi also find that the Turians mixed up a Levo and Dextro Food shipment. A platoon of Turians are in the hospital for food poisoning. The Humans who ingested the Detro food said it was 'tasty'. Like jerky was also said. I even tried it myself after confirming it was safe, pretty tasty actually. But it needs more spices." Petrovsky continued on, producing a sample of Turian MRE.

"Oh and Ginger is a no go for Salarians and Volus. Its a hallucinogen for them. Mint and other Dextro spices is also that for Turians. The Levo Dextro mix in them makes them go into an inebriated state. For the Salarians and Volus, it's like Catnip." Petrovsky said professionally, sharing a few laughs with Tomas as they went over the first person reports.

"After this the Chef was interested in going over the various other substances the other species have declared unfit for their consumption, saying he may be able to find some new trade goods to share back in the Federation." Petrovsky went on.

"Excellent! It seems we have Taste of Terra in order. Now the other projects?"

"The Laser Arena is almost complete, although I have a few concerns; Krogan should not be allowed to participate for sure. Asari and other species may not use their Biotics. Physical violence is only allowed in certain matches. And we have a paramedic team on staff ready to tened to any injuries." Petrovsky went on as Tomas put the menu aside to view the layout of the new Laser Arena, which already had interested parties asking for reservations.

"Something on your mind Petrovsky?" Tomas asked, detecting the other psyker lower her mental guards on her emotions as she checked over his collection of figurines.

"Why do you have these? I did some research and these things are ancient, from before Humans even colonized Luna." Petrovsky asked as she turned his newest addition to this collection to get a better look at the base's inscription "Panda GUMI".

"Well it reminds me of when I was a child and had other career goals in mind Mina." He replied, using her first name.

"Oh really? You? I can't ever imagine you as anything other than a peacemaker Tomas." She replied just as informally.

"Oh yeah. I was always interested in the cultural arts. Music, painting, dance, even literary arts. I grew up on New Barcelona, an industrial colony. Small. I would wander the barren halls and the only solace I would have was the arts."

"Of course most of the people on the colony were not very well trained in them, having received the job for their engineering degrees, or labor. I spent all my free time trying to draw, or write. And I knew it was something I wanted to do as soon as I saw the first happy smiles on people when they saw crudely drawn, but spirited murals on the concrete walls of the compound."

"I have a poor voice for music so I bought a pre made voice kit and started to make songs using the voices. Specifically the voice of GUMI, one of the oldest voice kits ever made."

"Then in order to pay for college, and get citizenship I joined the military. And they found out I was a psychic, and here I am. Being a psychic, I don't exactly have a lot of career options, and an art student is not really one of them. So as you can see. I'm certainly having the time of my life right now. Spreading Terran culture and arts."

"So how's the media campaign coming along for those web releases? We need a good idea on numbers to determine how many kiosks and stores we should open…..."

~[==|==]~

**Serpent Nebula, Citadel, Presidium 2657GS June/30/2329 AD**

"I'm telling you the bugs are worse than your Ranchi." Erica Chavez said trying to explain evil to the Citadel reporter who had been trailing her for that last ten minutes. At first she just wanted to get away from the blue squid head, but she soon realised she was no different than a Terran reported only without the military training and sense to not ask certain impolite questions. So now she was trying to get her to understand the threats they dealt with daily.

"I'm sorry, but didn't your people just destroy the, quote unquote, bug home world? I have a hard time seeing them as much of a problem, and it took centuries for us and the krogan to wipe out the Ranchi."

"The bugs may have lost their home world or they may not have, the fact of the matter is Klendathu is just the assumed home world and everyone forgets that. But here is the real kicker: they won't care. Every time we take one world from them they colonize another world or airless planetoid further away from us, they may be on the back step now, but they will come back for vengeance with something new."

"And by the way, the reason it stook you guys centuries to fight off the Rachni is because the Asari and Salarians are, pardon my insult, terrible at open warfare. The Asari don't have a professional military with the numbers to take on a bug invasion, and the Salarians first strike option is their only option if they want a tangible win. And add in a century of losing ground and the Krogan requiring at least a generation which is around 10 years, to bring their numbers to fighting strength. Then they had to fight their way across a century's worth of taken and fortified territory, WITHOUT using nuclear or permanently damaging weapons. Really the only reason why it lasted so long is because the Asari and Salarians are just NOT MADE for conventional warfare and could not contribute to the major battles in anything other than support or commando roles. The only thing that you guys can specialise yourselves into doing when confronted against other species." She was about to end the interview there when a thought hit her.

"Wait a moment who told you we blew up their planet? That's not to be officially released for a few more days." She asked looking at her suspiciously thinking that they might have a spy in their midst since that was being kept on the hush hush with the Citadel.

"Oh this nice Terran soldier who kept hitting on me." The Asari said after regaining her senses at the thorough beatdown Erica just gave to her entire species.

"You mind showing me where he is, I'd like to thank him for being so helpful to you." Erica asked in a sickly sweet voice, not wanting to give away she was going to reprimand him for leaking info and fraternizing with the locals.

"Oh sure he was down at the Purple Maiden I can show-" She looked over Ercia shoulder and stated, "Oh he's right there."

Erica turned and saw a man in his early thirties with an asari under each arm walking her way. She started to move toward him, but stopped when she heard his voice, "So I was surrounded by Bugs, I though 'well fuck this is it.' So I pull out my trusty shotgun and yelled, 'Come at me you ugly bastards, and-" Erica didn't hear the rest all she hearing was the sound of a power tool and feeling her arm being cut off all over again.

She calmly jogged right up to him and then suddenly screamed, "You ripped my arm off you fucker!" And smashed him in the face with her fist, the mechanical one. He was about to go over the side of the railing and into the lake. Unfortunately for Erica, he had a strong grip on her arm.

~[==|==]~

Ambassador Maghernus looked at the two soaked Terrans before him very… irritated. One was the recently promoted Rear Admiral Erica Chaves, and should have known better than this, the other was a recent addition to the Terran security force, Sergeant Major Jake Silva, a member of the Klendathu survivors who had been shipped out here for light duty as reward and to get them to reconsider leaving the Mobile Infantry. Most of the survivors had taken the offered chance to leave the military with full honors, but there were more than a few stubborn hot heads like Jake who had refused that effort. Although he would have considered a much more quiet post, like Earth or Cassandra for them.

"Erica. Speak. Clearly. Why did you get in a complication with Sergeant Major Silva? In the middle of the Presidium. The most heavily monitored and policed area in Citadel Space. In front of hundreds of diplomatic staff."

"Beats the fucking hell out of me." Jake said in a huff, nursing the area around his eye with an ice pack to quell the bruising, "I was minding my own business and this crazy bitch attacked me."

"Silva. I understand if you're upset... But clean up your fucking language young man! You are in the middle of intergalactic politics, whether you like it or not. Millions if not billions of alien eyes will be looking at you for any fucking fault. And I'll be damned, if you give all Terrans a bad name because of your casual cursing. And from now on, **Sergeant Major Jake Silva, **You will refer to your _Superior _officers by their correct fucking title! Now, I want a report written on this desk by 0600 tomorrow, in tripli-fucking-cate, about why calling your superior a bitch is not acceptable unless they're the unit's mascot." Maghernus never raised his voice, never had it stray from a neutral tone, but the look and sheer psionic force he put into the words would make grown veterans uneasy at the unnatural forces washing over them.

"Do I make myself clear Silva?"

"Y-yes sir!"

"Good." The psionic energy subsided and the two tried to regain their composure after such exposure.

"Now Erica. Please, tell me what your issue with him is."

"He cut off my arm in the Klendathu invasion." Erica said, surprised at the force Maghernus could speak with, and weakly straining the handcuffs that kept her from attacking Jake.

Jake looked her up and down and said, "Your arms look fine to me."

"You cut it off with a god damn chain saw on Klendathu!"

Maghernus looked at Jake and noted a wave of recognition hit him, "Both of you will speak in turn when I prompt you, that includes you Silva. If you speak out of turn again. I'll ensure to make it so you're scrubbing toilets for the rest of your life, even as a civilian. Do I make myself clear Erica?" Maghernus evenly spoke, making sure the psionic force came back to cow them under his attention.

"Good. Now do you remember Sergeant Silva?"

"Ahh maybe… during the first day of Klendathu I found a fly girl barely awake. Her leg had been ruined by a crash landing and a blister bug was eating her lower arm. I killed the bug and figured blister acid was poisonous, of course that was wrong, fu- I mean stupid SICON morons. I used the steel circular saw I had with me to cut her arm off at the shoulder to stop any poisons. I then carried her body to a transport and let the medics take care of her."

"Yes and you used a chainsaw to cut my arm off!"

"Steal buzz saw. Different thing entirely ma'am." Silva replied with decorum.

"I STILL HAVE NIGHTMARES!"

"And I spent seven years in one." He quipped back making a point of pointing to the medal on his jacket indicating his seven years on Klendathu. Two actually, he got one for being a POW, and another, a medallion, inset with the image of a Tiger bug, and latin script traced around its steel edge.

"Hmm well, at least I can use the publicity and turn it on its head. Erica, Sergeant Silva. Report to the Laser arena with a squad of hand picked men in one week. Duke it out to settle it once and for all." Maghernus, if this was a cartoon he would have dollar signs for irises now…...

To Be Continue


	15. Chapter 13 Book one (9-10-16)

Chapter 13

Edited by a person of many names Blood Raven AKA TimedRaven117. Go check out his story Mass Effect: X-Com Theory!

**~[==|==]~**

**Serpent Nebula, Citadel, Presidium, Dilinaga Concert Hall 2657GS July/7/2329 AD**

Maghernus was nervous. While he had participated in many social and political events, he had never done so with such a varied group of people. He would have to balance the needs, expectations, and cultures of nearly a dozen species, while keeping his own ideas in line with the goals of his people.

Which in this case was simply to keep the Citadel happy, and to facilitate agreements between the two groups. Trade was not going to be acceptable currently, until the Federation Trade Committee has had a proper amount of time to test all the multitude of goods that would be traded in human space.

Which made the Volus a bit upset in the few conversations he had with them, but he hoped to buddy up with them tonight and possibly gain a bit more insight on their people. A necessity in this new day and age. Thankfully he had been studying hard to understand the Volus body language.

He knew the Hanar and Elcor were more isolationist, the Hanar due to their unique physiology, and culture. The Elcor with their very conservative culture, were unlikely to open up for a few years, but he was patient, and after observing the galactic advancements they had contributed other than art and culture, they were a very minor conservative people.

The Batarians, he had engaged in a few less than subtle meetings with them on territory. It was simple, don't bother us, and we won't bother you. They can slave and raid and pillage and colonize as much as they want. On their side of the blue line. If they captured any ships trespassing on their side of the line he had said quite publicly that it wouldn't be tolerated, and if they refused boarding, would be destroyed.

Thankfully someone would have to be either the dumbest navigator, or willfully trespassing to even reach one of their patrols, since they had specifically placed the entire line half way through a chasm of space called the Carthanen Gap, a length of space with only a few stars with asteroid belts but no planets to discharge a core on, making it very hard to traverse.

Then to round out the minor species there were the Gathens, a small burrowing species who didn't have many holdings beyond their solar system, the Vlat, a pre space flight species who had next to no impact on the galactic stage, and a few other minor species who had little interest in exploration, or were simply too isolated to care about them.

For now at least.

An apt comment from his junior assistant was that many of the other species simply were content with the status quo and did little to change anything. It's like they got hit with the idiot stick as soon as they got Mass Effect tech. Sure it advanced, but it was along a "narrow" technological front, and it seemed they lost the will to rapidly and ambitiously make changes as they got settled into the galactic community. The worst part was they were entirely at the mercy of Element Zero, an extremely rare atomic component that was next to impossible to get cheaply due to demand. And the last major technological innovation was a millennia ago with the invention of stealth drives, and even they were horribly dangerous and inefficient despite the exacting purity of the samples they needed to maintain such a drive.

Overall, a few centuries at the most and the Federation would have entirely outpaced the Council. In fact they may still do so if they decide to keep their best tech for themselves, a likely action. He was more than happy to keep his people on their side of the galaxy to do as they pleased, instead of joining a Council that would offer very little to the Humans.

"Why are there cameras attached to the stand?" Councilor Cenike asked as he fiddled with it idly.

"This is a scary movie after all, To get the reactions of you all as you view the movie would be priceless for the marketing campaign. Besides I'm sure you would find it very entertaining." Maghernus said as the Dilinaga Concert Hall filled with tens of thousands of people. He had learned that they had sold out within the first day of ticket sales. In fact they were booked playing the same movie for the next week 24/7.

The only breaks they would get was to clean up between every movie. Maghernus even had to hire a lot more cooking staff to keep the dinner theater going.

As everyone got to their seats and the previews and coming attractions began to play, Maghernus smiled as he quietly conversed with those around him, He enjoyed the wily gossip and rumors that the ambassadors shared between each other. When the movie began, they fell silent and watched on intently.

By the end of the movie, Maghernus was smiling wide as the Asari Councilor looked pale, especially after she almost vomited following the scene that had the alien chew its way out of the man in the dining room.

He knew he made a good choice for dinner: Spaghetti and meatballs.

~[==|==]~

**Southern Terran Federation, Southern Command Space Station, Wolf Run, 2657 July/15/2329 AD**

Sky Marshal Richard Riverfield was running himself ragged trying to organize all the troops he was getting. He'd been pushing the border further and further south for years with the minimal troops the Federation Council could spare, as a result the logistics in the region were not well maintained. The secured shipping lanes were a mess, and were causing traffic jams from here to Rhohan. And to add to the trouble they couldn't get good communication to warn about these problems, so refueling stations were getting overcrowded.

There were five Guilder wave communication relays powerful enough to send messages in a timely manner in the south, two were directed to the west and east, but since most of the ships went to the central region before heading south they were no help. The other three should have been enough to handle the traffic control, but the one which had the best range was prone to accidents that would shut it down for a couple days and the other two didn't have the range, which was decayed by the gravity well of the sun they orbited.

This was a big problem that could not stand if they were going to push the war deep in the Hegemony territory, so he put an order for construction of more relays including a few space station born ones since they were often better than planet based ones, but who knew if the Federation Council would get off their lazy asses and and agree to funding the constructions. Probably not once they saw the estimated costs.

In Richard's opinion, the Federation Council was always too slow for the ongoing installer wars, and they needed to be done away until humanity's place was secured. But he kept that to himself, his job was too important to let his discontent with the government get him labeled a radical or traitor.

Sighing, he signed his name to the few orders that would bring in some bug war regiments as well as some green horns from the central region training camps. At the current rate it would be some time in october before they could begin the push and they probably would be well into next year that they start getting confirmed victories and territory out of the deal.

Of course his advisors suggested a defensive strategy until then, to hold their strategic objectives and keep what they can until they can bring an overwhelming force to smash the Skinnies.

Until then he sent the few special operators he had out to cause mayhem among the Skinnie border worlds to delay or outright halt any attacks or raids coming his way. He also had a reliable surveillance picket on the border to warn him of any incoming assaults.

He had learned long ago when he was just a lieutenant that the enemy was always up to something, the enemy may or may not be doing the smart thing, and that they were always in motion, even if they never went anywhere. So he always did his best to keep the fog of war unveiled. It was how and why he had taken so many worlds. But now the biggest component of his plan, the communication relays, were causing him to snag, with his overextended supply lines compounding his problems. He had been listening to suggestions on pulling the line back, and salting the earth so to speak as he did. If he couldn't defend it all, then he would only defend what needed defending.

Oh and they would get territory out of this deal, the damn xenos had had centuries to fight the bugs and they done nothing, it was right and proper for those who had finally taken the fight to the bugs, the greatest threat in the galaxy, to take the land of those who had failed and rolled over to die, '_Perhaps use them as canon folder and deny full citizenship_?' He mused with a smile and he wrote up orders for fleet.

~[==|==]~

_**FedNet News**_

The Hegemony strikes!

All across the southern border the Hegemony is on the move, with dozen of raids happening daily some ask if this new war is winnable. The answer is a resounding Yes! Though the force in the south are overwhelmed at the moment, reinforcements are on the way from across the Federation and beyond. From the West comes the veterans of the Second bug war, units with proud histories such as Merrill's Marauders the jungle and tunnel fighters who seized Tarthis single handedly, and the Catachan Devils whose distinct flamethrowers have burned innumerable bugholes into smoking cinders. As well as the reformed Blackburn's Raiders, Klandathu veterans who have chosen to remain in service and have had their number replenished with volunteers from other units.

From the North, ships and unit who are versed in city fighting are heading south from small units like the Shanxi Defenders, and the Roku San Redeemers, to ships and captains like Carmen Ibanez and the _John A. Warden_, as well as SICON special service agents like Kypas Bain and pathfinders units whose mission and identities are kept secret for their own safety.

And from the East comes are our new allies the Turians, Edmund Tromblay the burner of Hinnom, and T'Phai's Tawns the unit that gave Shanxi the time it desperately needed for the Turians to save the planet. These heroes and more will join the boots already on the ground such as the Bernstein Zebra Defenders of Isa colony and Epsilon Kappa, but we need more than heroes, we need soldiers, and that's where you come in, yes you! We need soldiers to support our heroes, Join the federal armed services today, remember!

Service Guarantees Citizenship!

Would you like to learn more?_ Continue._

~[==|==]~

(approved for Citadel viewing)

Tonight on Zegama Nights.

Officer Lorraine Ntawulikura has been searching for the man who murdered her partner in a terrorist attack on New California City.

"WHERE IS HE?"

And has become a thorn in the Zegama Cartel's side, "We can't let her continue to shake up our dust dealers boss!" But the Cartel won't stand for that much longer and has plans in place to deal with her.

"Hmm she want's to find her partners murderer? Lets help her find him!" Tonight we find out what their plans are

"Frank?! But you're dead!"

Would you like to learn more? _Continue._

~[==|==]~

Shanxi rebuilding!

With the destruction that wracked Shanxi, most colonists would throw in the towel and go to a more established world. Not Shanxi, in order to rebuild the colony the Federation Council has passed the Commerce World Act and it stipulates that since Shanxi is to be the gateway to Citadel space, all efforts are to be made to make her a success.

To that end Morita Arms Company, Brunham Ballistics, and FedCom are being allowed to open factories on the small colony, Voight &amp; Grohmann and Yini-Mina Precision Devices are also rumored to be looking into opening factories there, but due to their advances in plasma and laser tech respectively there are being refused until some Physical Rights Equipment is developed to keep the tech out of unwanted hands.

A branch the of the Daughters of Charity is being opened there to help those who lost their homes in the fighting and take in orphans. And monetary rewards are even being offered to those who would be willing to settle on Shanxi. There is also talk of opening a Grand Jumpball arena to draw in colonist, and to make sure the colony is protected SICON is placing a full division on the planet and planning to move a Ticonderoga class battle station in orbit above the planet as well as plans to build full shipyards in the system. One member of the Federation Council is quoted as saying, "Shanxi will become a shining city in the east that will rival Rhohan and Hesperus here in the central region in its power". Grand statement if ever there has been one. But will it come to pass? Or will the planet just become an armed camp for the military?

You can help sign up to be a colonist today and you will go to a world with enough money to establish yourself and your family and help create that shining city in the east.

However many economist note that if other Mass Relays were opened up that bypassed Shanxi, then the colony may lose out on the valuable trade, many have realized this and has slowed the flow of colonists who fear for the economic future of their children.

Would you like to know more? _Continue _

~[==|==]~

(approved for Citadel viewing)

Terror on the Border

On the north eastern frontier things are always tense, but today things are even more than normal, The Prophet of the Fourth ordered the colony of Clixis destroyed, claiming it was infringing on Fourth territory. The people on planet were mercilessly slaughtered, and the buildings were burned to ash.

The Federation agents in the region have demanded again for their to be some kind of recompense and have tried to get the Fourth Republic to stop the terrorist attacks of the Prophet, but the Republic forces denied any wrongdoing and prevented any Federation agents from trying to establish a dialogue with the Republic's leaders. Once again the Governors in the region are calling for military action against the Fourth, but with now two ongoing wars that seems very unlikely. As a result Colonies are putting out calls for mercenaries and ex soldiers along with Federation reinforcements.

Will They get the help they need to defend their homes? Only time will tell.

Would you like to know more? _Continue_

~[==|==]~

**Batarian Hegemony, Khar'shan, Senate Building 2657GS August/30/2329 AD**

Supreme Chancellor Dhanine Dhag'Renak looked at his advisors with contempt, they had failed in a plan to halt Terran expansion into the Skyllian Verge. After it had been discovered that they finally had competitors in the region they had begun attempts to try to force an expansion of the Hegemony.

At the moment they had two competing strategies in use, one was to map the verge as quickly as possible, which is how they come across the Terrans border on a narrow arable avenue of worlds. His advisers' had come up with the plan to try and force the Terrans back, they hired pirates, they weren't all pirates but the point was plausible deniability, and having ships that were not part of the Batarian military be involved in a border skirmish gave them that.

Unfortunately the god damned Terrans scared the pirates so much they had fled, and he doubted they'd ever return to Batarian space to return the good money his government had paid them.

The Terrans we're going to be a problem, but right now they didn't know how to deal with them, so he was gonna focus on what he could do to get the rest of the Skyllian Verge firmly in Batarian hands. This is where the other strategy was being put in place, as soon as they found a planet with their scouting force it was going on the open market within Hegemony space, there were not many industrial giants who wanted planets like these though so most would either be bought by the farmers looking to set up plantations, or colonies would be set up by quasi-legal organizations.

The former would require either slaves to work the land, or more likely just purchase the needed equipment. Slaves were something that was hard to do in this day and age thanks to a lack of demand for slaves. It didn't matter how hard you pushed them, they still worked significantly slower than machines, it was simple psychology.

The latter quasi-legal organizations was just a fancy term for not so desirables. Pirates, mercenary gangs, borderline criminal organizations. They would just use the planets as places to store their loot and try to skip out on their taxes. Which made having them completely pointless, since if a real fight ever came mercenaries were the last bunch of thugs you wanted at your side.

When one got down to it there wasn't much point in rushing, but DAMN IT! They were here first, and they had been developing the region for decades!

He had already dismissed several ideas to form an alliance with the Terrans, and just take what they could comfortably take, and believe the word of the newcomers. But he wasn't desperate enough to consider that. Someone had to be the superior, he could hardly tolerate another "Equal".

Sitting back in his chair and looking at the group of advisers who were turning out to be no better than yes men in this problem. An infuriating thought that made him almost angry enough to reduce them all as slaves, and bring the slaves up as his new advisors. It worked for Julan'Tha the Wise. He wished the last few supreme chancellors had extended the reach of the Batarian Hegemony already and hadn't taken a leisurely view of the whole situation. As he sat there, a thought occurred to him a way to both hurt the Terrans and help the Hegemony grow.

"Commander Gothala you need to devote some of our fleet into locating a passage into the Petolemaic space, something that'll get us around the Terrans, and make peaceful contact, I believe this is the best course of action for now."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend?" Commander Gothala asked.

"And possible trading partner." Dhanine replied, cruel smile on his face.

Gothala left to inform his simulations experts and theorists to start cooking up a plan. Personally Gothala thought the plan stupid. The Petolemaic's were a third world group at best, and offered nothing the Terrans couldn't. But he lived to serve his superior, and maybe if the simulationists came up with some good results, it would indeed by the answer they were looking for.

He remembered his old mentor's wise words, "Fail faster. You save time and money the sooner you find the faults."

~[==|==]~

**Southern Terran Federation, Cassandra. Communication relay 2657GS September /15/2329 AD**

Ensign Savika Boonpracong span around on his swivel chair like a child, bored out of his mind. The last few days he had been relaying menial massages until last night when they got the auto relayer mechanism working. He was really regretting coming to this damn planet, if they didn't have mind breaking boredom they had insane stress that made him wish he had joined the Mobile Infantry.

…...Nah! He liked his odds of living here too much to give it up. The last death related to military service here was a small nuclear explosion that had forced the colony to move for the fourth time. Wondering he picked up his pad and checked out the planet's history.

Cassandra was cursed, no one was quite sure why, but disasters were more common than any other colony in Terran space. If it wasn't for the unique gravitational tides of the local sun that allowed faster communications with the south, the Federation would have called it a failure and pulled out.

"Let's see, we moved the colony the first time because a volcano came up in the middle of town, second time because the dam broke and flooded the city," Savika spoke a loud, '_thank god for hermetically sealed buildings.'_ he mentally added.

"Third time because the local giant apes attacked with spears and torches, then the nuke, and the last time was because a giant fucking sinkhole." He muttered as he went down the list of things that had forced them to move, that did not include any of the times they didn't have to move the colony, which was about three times that number.

"Christ, I should write a book, it'd be a best seller. Well at least SICON will probably cook up ideas on how to lighten prefab structures for quick relocation. Hmm, maybe I should start getting to writing down some ideas on that….. Nah! Too much work." Savika mused as he continued to spin around while staring right at the ceiling.

The planet had one benefit though; there was a huge betting pool based around guessing the next disasters, and there were more than a few rich folks thanks to that by betting the long odds. He knew a guy who would have been the richest man on the planet... if one of those giant apes hadn't ripped off his arms and beat him to death with them. He was in on the pool himself and used his friends method, he kept betting the Skinnie would invade, a long odd thing since this planet was top secret, non military ships weren't allowed here, so dangerous that no sane military leader would conduct an offensive, out in the ass end of nowhere, and very few captains were given the exact course to this planet anyways. So it was unlikely to ever happen, but if it did he could buy his own island paradise, hopefully without giant apes or volcanoes…. Or Skinnies.

At that exact moment the alarm indicating something was jamming signals went off. He jumped from his seat in surprise falling right over in his swivel chair. After a thorough check to make sure it wasn't a malfunction, he checked the satellites. What he saw made him both happy and scared out of his mind, a massive Skinnie fleet had appeared at the edge of the system and was making good time towered Cassandra.

He was going to be rich! But first he hit the raid alarm button, grabbed his power suit, and began loading both survival and office supplies into his car next to the relay station, he was going to do the smart thing and go camping at the rendezvous point until Mobile Infantry and fleet cleared out this threat. One he was going to be rich, but two, against even a modest raiding force the general rule of thumb was duck and cover until some real forces came to take back the planet.

But first things first. Activating the radio on his suit he said to the general channel, "Guess who's a fucking billionaire!?" Which was met by the annoyed groans of anyone else on the channel.

**Southern Terran Federation, Cassandra, orbit 2657GS September /15/2329 AD**

General La'Mon, leader of Cassandra spear head and commander of the unified forces of Republic of Hammon, watched his fleet clear out the Terran space station. He had been tasked by the Grand Admiral to take this communication hub and hold it. And to do this he been given an awe inspiring portion of the fleet. While his force held here, bringing the Terran to the slaughter there would be raids on every planet they knew about in the south, they were going to cripple the industry and supplies the Federation would need to prosecute the war before they could get their forces here from the bug front.

It would significantly delay the Terrans for sure, and force the Terrans on the defensive and push them in disarray. With the taking of this communication hub they could hope for months perhaps even a year of disarray if their wildest speculations were met.

Simple plan and one that should work well, even if the Terrans took this relay planet back which would cost them many lives and resources, they would be forced to withdraw back to the core region and hopefully sign a peace treaty that would give Hegemony most if not all of the south, as a barrier against their expansion. As he watched, the Terran station went up in flames and began to fall toward the planet, leaving him a broad smile at how well his fleet was doing.

Although he knew it wasn't that much of a victory, reports were that as soon as they entered the system they received a message of mixed disbelief and resignation and the station's small staff had evacuated in escape pods that rocketed towards the planet. Indeed the general comm chatter was one of not terror, but annoyance and orderly movement. One human even went so far as to tell him that they could keep the planet for all the he cared. It was a strange psychological war, and even as his troops landed on the planet they found a much smaller colony than expected and it was completely deserted, not a human to be found. They had all left towards the wilderness. It was estimated that the numbers could not exceed ten thousand souls, not even close enough a force to give minor resistance to his million strong host.

There were several of every kind of ship and forces from all over the Hegemony feudal and tribal raiders, feudal and Tribal Transport ships, Four republic dreadnoughts, and the pride of his planet, the Republic cruisers, the next generation spacecraft created by melding captured Terran tech and their own.

At 400 meters it was the largest ship created besides the dreadnought, but much faster, it was angular and could be compared to a floating blade like the transports, but her guns were bigger and with her front facing weapons configuration, she was meant to rip the heart out of the enemy's formation, it was to act as the tip of the spear.

He loved them as they had proven themselves against Terrans in battles before unlike the dreadnaughts whose last major victory had been against the minor race Libertatem. Speaking of them, the Libertatem League had also contributed some of their Fast Attack Vessels, their ships always looked to fancy for war, like some kind of cruise vessel with their smooth lines and white halls.

If it wasn't for the black war stripes they painted on to break up the lines of their ship he would say they weren't trying. The Libertatem normally stayed out of the great interstellar wars. Their planet was more core ward and surrounded by Hegemony planets, but the Grand Admiral had forced them at gunpoint to honor the three hundred year old peace treaty of Molk which stated they would contribute to the defense of the Hegemony. He was sure they weren't happy about it, but they were here and launching their munitions satellites, ready to rain death down on the planet.

As he watched, ground forces began to deploy to the planet in real numbers now, once there they would begin looting the surfaces of the planet and taking slaves to send to the Hegemony. However that was only the secondary mission though he knew they would treat it as the primary, the real primary was to gain access to the planetary defenses, he assumed there would be a few of their ground to space guns on the planet and that would give the edge when the Terrans came back in a large group.

~[==|==]~

**Southern Terran Federation, Cassandra, 60 miles north of New, New, New Cassy city, 2657GS september /20/2329 AD**

Lieutenant Luke Garrett watched the Skinnie column with a bored expression, waiting for the right moment. There was an art to ambush, and he had found over the last five days he was a master at it.

"Wait until the heavy chariot is at alpha position, all squads you will have a go. Remember the basics, front and rear vehicles first." He ordered in a monotone voice, the Skinnie were trudging down a muddy road and if it hadn't been for their hovercraft they would not have gotten this far, as they would never catch up to the civilians who were moving north toward Old Cassy City in hopes of grabbing the emergency supplies that had been left there when the city sank underground.

He watched the chariot waiting for the right moment, then tapped the side of his helmet to activate the comms "Activate Pee-Wee-nuke." He confirmed in monotone. The heavy chariot and the Skinnies around it vanished, reduced to atoms on the wind in the face of the millisecond long sun, permanently blinding anyone who was not looking away with eye protection.

Not even a moment later his troopers let loose, raining gunfire down on the Skinnies from the jungle woods around the road. The Skinnie were nothing more than on again off again raiders so they were quickly slain like the other patrols, though he doubted that would continue. Sooner or later they would put better trained conscripts after them, and then the fighting would get tougher as their more experienced brethren would keep a keener eye out. But best get practice in now.

The past five days went by like this one; successful massacre after another and from what he was hearing, other units that had mounted up in time and survived that first hour, and had not been vaporized when Fort Ericson was hit from orbit, were doing just as well. a surprised considering this planet was cursed.

Or maybe because the planet was cursed, after all ever since that volcano and sinkhole, the colonel decided to fuck it and kept most of the regiment spread out across the entire colony so ONE calamity wouldn't kill them all. Like that volcano, or the sinkhole. That would be embarrassing, all of Fort Ericson just falls right in a sinkhole volcano. That thought actually brought a smile to his face.

He surmised the curse applies to anyone who came to the planet as the second hour had shown them and since they wished the Skinnie harm they were now the agent of the curse. In the first hour when things looked problematic and the Skinnies were readying for the final charge that would take them into New, New, New Cassy City an earthquake had hit. Now Luke had put his bet on the Skinnies getting the boost they needed and swarming over the rearguard defenses, but Cassy threw them a bone and opened a ravine right through the Skinnie landing zone so violently that what ships weren't swallowed up by the earth were thrown like toys into the Skinnies who had been assaulting the city. That respite had given the civilians and rearguard the chance to get out of the city with all of their emergency supplies. All without a shot exchanged.

You know, Luke wouldn't be surprised if that ravine was in the exact shape of a giant middle finger. Wouldn't surprise him, he may even win back that 100 credits he betted on getting overrun.

The Skinnie air power was a big worry, when they began the trek north, but the commanders had agreed the massive hundred foot tall trees and their canopies gave them some protection. At least that's what they assumed they got help from. On the second day of fighting, a monsoon rolled in bringing visibility down even more, less than a hundred meters, and reducing the roads to muck. Grounding the fliers, it stalled the Skinnie advance as they refitted their patrols with survival gear and more rations, and slowed the civilians, but with their jump jets, preparation for even the most absolute and comical malfunctions, training, and "training", the troopers were able to run circles around the Skinnies.

This was one of the reasons for his new theory on the planet: Cassy hated everybody, but she hates new people so much more she would help people she knows on accident….

Hmm, maybe the planet is actually a living entity, and we're like germs on her surface? That would explain the almost unbelievable catastrophes that regularly plagued their settlement, and their settlement only. Like those whacko sci fi books that get reprinted.

His second in command waddled up, knee high in muck from where he was, "Sir we got another column coming up the road." His sergeant major was in a forward scouting position around the bend of the road, he had moved on foot around that bend to make sure the signal got through.

"Damn, they're going to be expect us, no way they didn't hear the nuke."Luke contemplated plainly, looking at the Skinnie bodies on the road, he hit his comms for his sergeant major and asked with monotone, "What're we facing Terry?"

"Not sure sir they... they're not Skinnies?" The line was dead for a moment and then a panicked voice shouted in genuine alarm "Oh fuck, INCOMING! BRACE!" Luke and everyone else heard the warning for orbital bombardment coming so he looked up while everyone was flying around and waddling about to cover and protection.

Coming straight down from orbit and breaking the sound barrier, a missile shot from the cloudy sky and hit about where his sergeant major had been. "Terry? Report." Luke said getting up from his position and signaling the nearest squad to come with him.

He jump jetted up to a tree then traversed slippery branch to slippery branch until he was looking down at the enemy. What he saw was lightly armored soldiers that looked like a strange combination of man and bugs. there were about ten of them around the crater from the missiles looking over the remnant of his soldiers.

Thankfully it appeared to be for learning and not eating as the bugs did. The bug men were wearing forest pattern armor and carried rifles that appeared to be made up of iron and wood.

The "bugs" themselves reminded him of grasshoppers, their legs being overly long for their bodies, and their knees facing backwards. their skin, if it was skin, was not the same color between each individual's. They had two eyes, a mouth and nose holes on their face, he guessed from the placement of holes on their helmet that their face and their arms were long as well not as much as their legs but still notable and they had four fingered hands.

The rest of his trooper arrived to either side of him and he didn't bother thinking this over anymore. "Kill them." His troopers rained gunfire down killing three before the new guys could respond, and wounding one with an overly large backpack. Two of the bug like creatures moved to get their downed comrade but Luke was already putting something together, there was no way for aircraft to have given the location for the attack and if it had come from orbit as the velocity of the missile suggested then they needed something to communicate with their ships in orbit, and that pack looked a lot like the ones used by the light infantry for planetary communication.

He designated that pack a priority and moved to bring his gun to fire at four remaining targets, but they were moving fast, as they were jumping up the trees without aid from any jump jet or tech. Two were killed on the way up, the third tackled him right of the tree branch and as he and the alien fell to earth fighting he had no idea where the fourth went.

He made sure to mark to capture the wounded one and another one for good measure even as he grappled with his attacker.

As they fell, Luke knew it was not good for him to be on the bottom when the landed so he used his jump jet and a few good right hooks to get free and let the bug crash to the earth below. He landed on top of the bug ready to kill it like a Skinnie, when it threw its gun away and put it's hands up.

He was so surprised he nearly pulled the trigger and killed the bug... he kept his eye on the bug as he called out over comms, "Report." And soon found out that they had captured three of the bugs in total, one was the wounded comms carrier.

He wasn't sure what to do, they were bugs, but not the arachnid bugs, they were with the Skinnie, but had surrendered with hardly a fight once it realized it was good as dead. It was an unprecedented situation, a funny thing since humans used to surrender all the time, and he was tempted to say it never happen and just shoot them so they wouldn't get slowed down, but then he got an idea.

A nasty evil idea that would really fuck with the Skinnies plan if he did this right. _If these bug were willing to surrender, that might mean they didn't want to be part of this war, because it offered them nothing personally, so what if we offered them something_? "You speak any Terran?" He asked the bug, the bug responded in its own language then something in what he recognized as broken Skinnie, _good enough_ _for my idea_. "Someone get on the horn and get someone who knows Skinnie down here. We got a prisoner willing to talk."

To Be Continued.


	16. Chapter 14 Book one (10-12-16)

Chapter 13

Edited by a person of many names Blood Raven AKA TimedRaven117. Go check out his story Mass Effect: X-Com Theory!

**~[==|==]~**

**Southern Terran Federation, Southern Command Space Station, Wolf Run, 2657GS September /25/2329 AD**

Sky Marshal Richard Riverfield paced around his office, pissed, and wishing he hadn't stopped smoking. Everything had started going so well, the fleet was getting in position, the troopers were moving to secure frontier worlds, and he thought he would be able to launch the Road to Petolemy Campaign by mid october.

Now he needed to retake Cassandra, and find out if those defences he had gotten in place had held under the Skinnie onslaught. All of which would delay the Road to Petolemy Campaign to the beginning of next year if things went well. He was left with few options, though he had begun preparing an attack on the Skinnies around Cassandra. The problem was he didn't have access to most of the fleet, since it was cut off as long as Cassandra was in enemy hands.

This meant he had to get creative, and he may well regret it, he had gathered the scraps of the fleet he could; four Dreadnoughts, Corvette Destroyers, old Cruisers, anything he could get his hands on, including Patrol Boats. Though since they didn't have interstellar drives they would have to be pulled into battle by the other ships.

Every ship and every trooper he could get his hands on were massing either here or at several other points that were in range of Cassandra, but he needed something that would give him an edge or it would end in obvious disaster. Thankfully something like that could be arriving today, he just had to convince a special Captain to join him.

"Sir, the Ryuho has just entered the system." Richard's secretary said over the intercom.

"Thank you Emily, please have the Captain contact me as soon as possible." Taking his seat he waited patiently, thankfully not for long as Captain Mahin Biswan, responded with all haste, "Sky Marshal Riverfield, it's an honor to speak with you sir!" She reported, saluting the screen.

Returning the salute Riverfield nodded, "At ease Captain Biswan there is no need or time for formalities." Richard replied, wanting to get to the point fast, though this statement seemed to have left the captain confused, "You left Luner port before the news reached Earth. The Cassandra relay was lost to a Skinnie invasion fleet."

"Dear god," Bizwan commented with a horrified look, "how did they find Cassandra?"

"We have no confirmation, but MilInt has proposed that a rogue General, who we were hoping was dead, may not be as dead as he led us to believe. I'm putting a warrent out to have Pathfinders find him, and make make our belief a reality. But right now we need to focus on getting Cassandra back under our control, so I ask you Captain, is the Ryuho ready for a fight?"

Biswan looked rather unsure for a moment, and seemed to be evaluating her options, before finally she reported, "She may be ready, we're still working out some power issues, and we haven't tested the Auger Cannon yet, but all her other Laser Cannons work as advertised, I wish we would have had more time to finish her shakedown cruise before she went into combat, but if you need her, Battleship Ryuho is at your services, just expect to roll the dice every time we fire."

Richard nodded, "We'll need her, but I will keep your concerns in mind. Keep near the center of the formation, in case anything goes wrong, so you have support." Captain Biswan nodded, "Prepare your ship for battle Captain, the tactical briefing is in a few hours."

**~[==|==]~**

**Shanxi, Terra's Gift, Turian Military resupply Station 2657GS september /25/2329 AD**

Vice Admiral Gainus, watched as several supply ships landed on the airfield the Terrans had hastily constructed for them. In order to keep the Turian forces ready to help with the attack into the Hegemony, they had given them a bit of land outside of the destroyed city of Shanxi, not too far from where the Vanker went down. The accommodations were spartan, but serviceable. Most of the buildings were built out of cheap metals, but they were definitely not the worst place he stayed in during his long career. The food could be better though.

Gainus was a little annoyed that they had not been allowed to explore into the Federation territory, and begin operations against the Skinnies as they said they would. But he could understand it. The Federation for one were paranoid about aliens, so having them running around without chaperones, as insulting as the word was, would cause a stir even if they were doing good. For another, the Turians couldn't get to the Skinnies just yet, from what he understood the Skinnies were about a week's travel from their current location, and since the Federation didn't use element zero, there was nowhere for them to refuel unless they spent days skimming Helium 3 manualy. Though he thought that may change soon.

The Federation fleet had been sending some of their fuel ships to transfer Element zero and Helium 3, some of those ships went deeper into the Federation, to where he had no idea, the others were still in orbit. To him this meant they planned to feed the fleet's need for Helium 3, absorbing the cost as a trade off for not allowing them to explore too far way from their refueling ships.

If that's how they wanted it to be, so be it. As long as they allowed them to fight, he would be happy, and then once this war was over he could retire as a war hero. Not an old soldier who never saw a real war, like most of his predecessors.

He moved over to his desk to take a sip of his drink when Rear Admiral Chavez opened the door, with a rather tired look in her eyes. "I believe most species find it polite to knock." He commented, not bothering to look away from his desk, getting a tired look from her before she straightened her uniform jacket, and knocked on the open door.

"I hope that's better, because I'm too beat to do more," she commented, taking a seat in front of Gainus' desk after given permission by him to do so. It was strange for Gainus, his people were pragmatic and just simply took a seat when they entered, if they needed it.

"Quite." He assured, taking his seat, he took a look over the Terran and recognized the look about her. He knew she'd been running between her post here on Shanxi, and the Citadel as the message girl for the Federation. He guessed she was getting a lot more responsibility than just those posts as well. He'd seen it before, when a Primarch was testing a possible successor, he didn't know how the Human government worked for sure yet, but she had done good work for her Federation by establishing peaceful contact with the Citadel, so he wouldn't be surprised to hear in ten years she was the Sky Marshal of a region... if she didn't crack first.

"Thessian Tea?" He offered.

"Thank you." She replied graciously, taking the drink and sipping it. "Still want to beat the Skinnies head in?"

Looking up from his drink he nodded, "Of course, me and my men are happy for your hospitality, but we're getting a bit antsy just sitting here with our thumbs up our ass, that's the right expression correct? What opportunities are you offering?"

"News just came in that the Skinnies made the first move, hit a strategically located planet that relays most of the messages from the Federation proper, to the south, most of our forces in the region are now cut off and can't communicate with each other without the use of courier ships. Sky Marshal Riverfield is putting together a force to take that planet back, and if we leave by tonight, we can be at one of the assemblage areas in time for the attack." She said sipping the last of her tea down. "Thank you for the drink by the way."

"I assume the fuel and route has been taken care of?"

"For the most part, we just need to practice. Your first outing from Shanxi was going to have hiccups in the first place, better to get all the gigs out of the way now."

"Then I will prepare the fleet immediately."

**~[==|==]~**

**Southern Terran Federation, Cassandra, 30 miles south of the ruins of New, New Cassy city, 2657GS september /26/2329 AD**

Luke sat across from the Smug, so named because they were smarter then the bugs, and because their face always looked a bit Smug. They'd been moving further north to avoid the Skinnie and Smug patrols. The Skinnies were starting to get harder and smarter, sending real soldiers and not clueless conscripts after them. The Smug patrols were really no better he guessed, either they didn't have much of a military tradition, or they had only sent soldiers they didn't need for their own protection. Likely, they were the poor performers, sent to be taken care of. Either way they always had to be careful when dealing with them, because they would shatter the sky at the slightest provocation.

There was one good thing; the rain had let up, but by that point the roads were completely transformed to mud. The civilians were at their breaking point, blaming the Federation for everything. They needed a substantial win within the next week or the civies may start thinking surrender was a good idea. It wasn't, but they'd been spared most of the horrors of interstellar war so they were allowed to be dumb.

Right now they made camp at a rocky outcropping in the middle of a clearing, and good clear air was blowing down from the nearby mountains. After a few minutes silence, a mech-trooper rushed into the clearing from below, "I FOUND IT!" he yelled putting the TALC box down on the boulder between them.

"You think that old thing will work?" He asked monotonously.

"Well it either works or we shoot the prisoners, which would you prefer?" The mech-trooper asked.

"Shoot 'em, but I have to make the effort at the very least." He said, switching the machine on, "So now do you understand me?" A moment later Petol, the Skinnie trade language, came out of the box.

The Smug looked happy and relieved, then replied, "I understand the barbaric Petolemaic language."

"Barbaric? Glad to hear that from the Skinnies' ally. Let me guess, roped you with a bad treaty?" Luke returned calmly.

"Yes, they were very insistent on us helping them fight the Human land stealers, as they called you."

Luke finally showed some emotion, smiling maliciously, "So you have no stakes in this war?"

"We of the Libertatem League wish for no war, we have an army and we have a navy, but we have not been able to upgrade them, since the Petolemies force us to share whatever tech we build, with them."

Luke's smile grew downright insidious, spreading from the corners of his jaw, "So what if I offered your people the chance to not just be rid of the Skinnies forever, but perhaps forge a political alliance with the Federation?"

"While it is appealing to me, I have no idea where my government would land on the issue. _However_, I know my people would be very interested in this deal, as long as you Humans can be trusted to keep your word, and not fire upon us." The Smug himself leaned in very close, showing the universal sign of interest.

Luke nodded and leaned back to look like he was completely relaxed, "I know for a fact, that soon the Federation will send every ship and every trooper to this cursed world, when they arrive they will wipe out all forces that don't end up running. Of course, we ourselves will take quite the beating and likely force us to reconsider our entire strategic operations in this sector. _But_, if someone in the middle of the formation were to suddenly destroy the Skinnie commander and his lieutenants, they would be well rewarded by my government as worthy allies. Help us destroy the leadership and overthrow their Hegemony. Simple choice, in return for your commander considering this bargain, I won't attack any of your Libertatem comrades. _And _I'll even give you the Auxiliary IFF codes so the fleet knows you are friendlies."

"And how do I know your species will abide by this, if and when they arrive? And not just destroy us all if it's convenient?"

"Kill the enemy leaders and flee, we won't pursue you if you just helped us, and have the codes. And I'll put a good word in for you. Scout's honor." Luke said honestly, giving a two fingered salute.

"If we accept your deal, we'll contact you for the codes. I assume one of your retinue will show me out?"

"Of course," Luke idly waved one of his troopers over, "Have a good trip now. Be a shame if one of the big apes got you, before you sent your message."

**~[==|==]~**

**Southern Terran Federation, Nearing Cassandra system, TFS BB-**_**Ryuho**_** 2657GS October/3/2329 AD**

Captain Mahin Biswan calmly sat in the command chair of the Ryuho trying to exude confidence. She was doing a good job she thought, but really her stomach was in knots, the Ryuho was quite possibly fully operational, which was a miracle considering that this was the first ship constructed by Yini-Mina Precision Devices. But she was worried that when they got into battle, it would be no better than their first attempts at laser rifles.

Taking discreet deep breaths, she reviewed the reports from engineering. The kilometer long ship had two primary powerplants, one to move, the other to provide the power for her guns. Hell, she sorta had three with the augur laser being the biggest drain on power for the whole ship, they had to make one that was specially made and activated during the firing of the super weapon. The ship in reality, was one big gun with double turrets and broadsides on her fuselage, and four pylons on the back. The primary bridge was located in the most structurally sound location, a bit above the dead center of the ship at the 800 meter mark, the first two hundred meters were pointed stabilizer wings, made to stabilize the augur laser. The Secondary command center was located below her, near the firing array for the aguer laser

The ship was so big, that the tertiary bridge was located behind hers on top of a docking ring, meant to control the hundreds of missiles and strike wings attached to the ship.

The last major feature was a massive communication relay tower between the third bridge and forward of the engines. The ship had none of the old cylinder designs and instead was more flat and arrow head shaped, if anything it looked like two parallel arrowheads from a top view.

The ship was such an odd design, it had been hard to get her out of port at first. But they had gotten some time to get to know the ship, and were confident she would be able to fight well in the coming battle, "Ma'am we will be arriving at our destination in a few minutes."

"Thank you lieutenant." Mahin said before she turned on the intercom, "Crew of the Ryuho, we are about to charge into the enemy as part of the biggest Terran fleet action in the south ever, not only that, this is the first action the Ryuho will engage in. I'd like to say nothing major is riding on this fight, but there is. The first is the south, without this buffer, within a few years the Skinnie could begin hitting Earth with slave raids. The second is we must show the value of large ships with this fight, for too long the Federation has avoided massive ships, citing them as too costly, but their cost is offset by the death they can reap, and we must show definitively, the death we can reap. Good luck and prepare for war."

A scant moment later they arrived in system with the Battle Fleet, "Ma'am we're scanning the system now, there are 300 Skinnie ships in orbit above Cassandra." Mahin did not like that, they would have four hundred total Federation vessels eventually, but right now they only had about two hundred present, another wave would arrive soon hopefully, and the third wave should arrive very soon after that.

**~[==|==]~**

**Republic Cruiser Hammon**

General La'Mon watched the map as two hundred Terran vessels advanced toward Cassandra. They had the smaller ships, corvettes, bombers, and fighters, in front as a skirmish line, and it would come into contact with the raider ships soon, but he was surprised they had only sent two hundred ships forward.

Either they were very tied down against the bugs, or they were keeping their reinforcements out of system. A smart move, he was doing it to. He had three hundred ships in system, but he was keeping two hundred out of system as reserve and flanking forces.

If he had it here, he had no doubt that he could crush the Terran force, but until he knew what they had in reserve themselves, it was better to keep them prepared and ready to counter Terran reinforcements and for flank and rear attacks in their formation.

It was a good day for a battle, The Petolemaic moral was at an all time high, thanks to the success of their strategic offensive. Planets throughout the southern Terran region were falling to the Petolemaic soldiers. Sure there was stiffer resistance on some planets then had been predicted, but that didn't matter. As long as moral was high, more tribes, clans, kingdoms, and republics would join the war, and when this battle was won, their numbers would grow ever higher.

From his estimations, he had a fourth of all Hegemony ships involved in the campaign, under his command, that number would change after this battle, he was sure. This war may be the thing to unite the Hegemony into a great nation once more, if so his contribution would surely gain his republic many lucrative trade deals, and his family's name firmly etched into the new history of the Hegemony Navy, and perhaps some day... he stopped himself from the thought of ruling the Hegemony's Navy, as that was the future, and now was the time to focus on the enemy in front of him.

"Order our raiders to engage the forward combat screen of the Human Fleet, keep the bigger vessels back, and have the Dreadnoughts spin up their harmonic shields. They won't do much good against those lasers, but their missiles will go haywire. Keep them at the front of the cruiser wings to act as shields. Keep the Libertatem back and guard the planet, the satellite network will work wonders on the Terran fleet if they get too close." La'Mon paced up and down the bridge, giving orders to each of his officers as they worked frantically in the command center.

**~[==|==]~**

**Alesia Destroyer, TFS-D-**_**Fremont**_

Lieutenant Commander Edmund Tromblay sat in the captain's seat of the Fremont, watching the Skinnie raider ships get closer.

His mission was simple; scout their skirmishers, and hit the sides of the enemy formation, but the skirmishers were keeping them from accomplishing the latter goal.

Currently the forward fighter and bomber wings were engaging their counterparts, and the Skinnie raiders were now moving in to provide fire support for their numerically inferior fighters, "This is why I hate Riverfield, his command staff always tries to control the battle, right down to the individual dogfights." He complained, wishing the Sky Marshal would be replaced already. He liked the southern theater, it was simple for him and his crew: Kill the slaver, free the slaves.

But the Sky Marshall made it politically charged, by forcing everything here under his control and that of the Federation, even colonies that were not under Skinnie or bug threat. He just didn't realize that people who were out here just wanted to be independent, to be free from the pressure of the Federation, and live lives with good hard work.

"What do you expect? He's ambitious, and the only way up is the Sky Marshall in Chief. He probably believes that if he gets enough territory, the senate will recognize him and elevate him to that status." Lieutenant Commander Mayo Shinya commented on his side side screen, sipping from a self contained juice pack. She looked to her side, and gave muted orders before her ship fired a few anti-Fighter missiles. She wanted to get into the thick of the fight, he could tell.

"Yeah well we're going to lose those pilots, if we don't do something." Edmund muttered.

"We'll, we can't stay here Tromblay, we'll need to move in and smash their lines." Mayo said.

"Alright, Corvette wing 27-5, we're moving in, cover our backs and let's punch a hole through them. I want anti-bomber cover all around us, while we deliver the package." Edmund ordered, with Mayo doing the same, and suddenly their stretch of the battle line began to break formation, increasing speed to charge the enemy lines."

"I'll start the kill tally sir. I wish to beat the _Walker_ this time." Fremont, the ship's AI, said as a small counter popped up.

"_Fremont, Walker_, you are currently breaking formation. What's your issue?" The message came from the Section Commander, who was in charge of the section of the Skirmish line. He sounded worried, after all, he had worked with the two before, and he found their lack of discipline troubling.

"Sir, we need to move forward, otherwise our fighter screen will get destroyed." Edmund returned as this spearhead advanced forward in a cone formation.

"Well Commander Tromblay, has it occurred to you that the reason we are moving this slow is because we don't want to set off a trap?!" His section commander blared out in annoyance.

"Well sir, think of us as the people who will set it off! Either we break through and launch the package, or we die." Edmund returned as they rapidly closed the distance.

"Damn it Tromblay! You're forgetting the bigger picture. Damn! Wings 24 through 29! Move to assist, spearhead formation! Over and under, we need that line broken. Athenas! Hit the heart!" The commander ordered, growling out as his own line moved into the salient.

"Lieutenant, prepare the ship for general attack. And play some music." Edmund ordered.

"Going to do your classic rock again?" He asked.

"Yes, the usual please." Smiling wide, his ship was brought to full battle stations, with every gunport open to fire. He began to hum along to the song, Another one Bites the Dust.

**~[==|==]~**

**Outside of Cassandra system, TFS-C-**_**Ollanius Pius**_**, Valley Forge Class**

Captain Michael Shepard checked his pocket watch once again, the order was late. He was put in command of the second wave of the old and outdated Valley Forge cruisers and escorts, most had been pulled from mouth ball and didn't even have lasers, instead having the old chemical propellant anti air cannons. They may do some damage, but that was not the reason they'd been pulled from mothball.

This Valley Forge Class was a missile cruiser, and each cruiser and escort had been loaded to bear, with every warhead they could get their hands on. Checking his watch again, he turned to Commander Pressly, his XO, "Has the _Hel_ received any word?" The _Hel_ was an Athena Class Super Carrier, and among its tech wizardry, it had the fastest long range communications equipment in the fleet.

"No sir," Commander Pressly said from his seat, "It will take a while to pull the Skinnies into the position we want them, or perhaps the Skinnie were not as numerous as we guessed?"

"Perhaps, but a plan never survives combat with the enemy, so just as likely, someone didn't give the enemy enough credit." He guessed, checking his watch again and smiling at the picture of his wife, Hannah. She was back home watching the kids, though she wanted to be out here fighting, they agreed to take two to three year shifts. His shift was up last week, so he should've been heading back to Sanctuary. Instead he got called out here to waste time with the damn Skinnies.

"Sir! _Hel_ is reporting the Skinnies have moved into position." The comms officer called from her seat.

"About time! Put the call out we're transitioning to the battle." Michael called out, causing the bridge to go into organized chaos. Within moments, the fleet was underway for Cassandra, and a moment later the fleet appeared behind and above the Skinnie's formation.

Now above the foe's position and defences, they had perfect shots to attack until they reoriented, "Open fire! Fire at will!" Michael ordered, and the fleet did so, sending several hundred missiles, and thousands of solid shot rounds towards the enemy formation. Dozens of ships were destroyed in the opening salvo, never even given the chance at evasion or preparation. The only thing saving perhaps a hundred ships was the Skinnie dreadnoughts, the harmonic shields deflected a large portion of the missiles away or caused them to blow up early, preventing the attack from being a solid victory right then and there. And it left Shepherd's fleet with its pants down, reloading their missiles.

"Withdraw, withdraw!" Shepherd ordered, as his ships began to reorient away from the fighting so they could escape and regroup for another run.

"Sir detecting magnetic disturbances behind us!" Pressly exclaimed in alarm.

"Shit! Prepare for incoming, escape as soon as possible!" A moment later a second Skinnie fleet of 100 ships appeared, cutting off their original escape route, and trapping them between the enemy fleets.

**~[==|==]~**

Vice Admiral Gainus stood on the bridge of his flagship, _Redeemer,_ looking out on the viewscreen. Any moment now his mixed force of the Turian Expeditionary fleet, and the fuel vessels the Terrans were loaning them, would arrive at the battle of cassandra,  
possibly already under way.

As a result he had all crews on standby for battle, and had taken a bit of Terran tech they had offered for ease of use. A holographic table that would collect data from all the Terran ships and would project the battle, so he could get a sense of what was happening, technically they had this tech themselves, but this one already had access to the Terran ship data, and considering what he knew about the way they conducted space combat, and how close their ships could get, he would need this tech to have his dreadnought target the enemy ships, and not hit a friendly.

"_Signour_, we'll be arriving soon." The Terran observer reported from the holographic table.

He briefly considered giving some speech, but there was no time, they needed to get into the thick of this fight, and show these barbarians that you did not attack Turian vessels on a peacekeeping mission, he'd been denied that at the Battle of Shanxi, he would not be denied that here.

"Thank you." Gainus replied, watching the space outside. He smiled, today was going to be a good day.

The Terran next to him was muttering something under his breath, clutching in his hand a small crucifix necklace. He had given Gainus a medallion of Saint Christopher, which Gainus had attached to his armor as such. He wouldn't be rude, and deny a gift, even if it was a trinket for good luck.

A moment later he was worried for their current tactical situation. As his ship arrived, he could already see the battle underway, and a glance at the map showed him a disaster in the making.

The Terrans had formed a salient in the left flank of the enemies battle formation, but the light class of ships meant they couldn't pull back nor disengage, or they would be annihilated. the Terran's flanking force had been boxed in and were scattering and trying to escape in any direction possibly. The other part of the Terran fleet was doing it's best to try and pry their trapped comrades free, but were not having much in the way of luck. Things looked a bit grim for the Terrans all and all.

"Oh, _bondad sin_! This isn't good." The Terran next to him whispered, as he pulled up specific battle data, and brought up the com links to the two force commanders.

"Well, we were looking for a fight! Send Frigates Flotillas 8-10 and Cruiser Pods 9 and 10 to support the entrapped pocket. The rest of us, we need to clear a hole between the Terran forces. Move the dreadnoughts to maximal range of the main guns we're going to pound the center of the Skinnie formation to lay off our friends. Frigate Flotillas 4-7 stay near the Dreadnoughts, Cruisers and remaining frigates, move forward to engage." Gainus ordered, moving to support his allies. This would be tough, they were close to the planet and the system's sun, they would have a few hours before the heat buildup would reach maximum levels and they would have to withdraw.

After a minute of letting their FTL drives recharge, the Turian fleet moved with lightening speed, in moments his orders became reality, Turian frigates launched themselves to nearly point blank range of the Skinnie lines, darting in and out and cutting the small ships to pieces, forcing a corridor for the cruisers, focusing their fire on taking out the captured Terran vessels the Skinnies were using to supplement their force.

But the dreadnaughts were causing the most visible damage, their massive main guns ripping through the comparatively frail Skinnie ships, and it was not all because of the fact they were the main guns of the dreadnought, the damage they were dishing out was mostly due the fact the Skinnie ships had no defense.

Well except the Skinnie dreadnoughts themselves. Gainus saw the rounds that were meant to take out the "dreadnoughts" curve around their ships, or just skim the surface of the vessel only causing minor damage. He had heard about the harmonic shields that were deployed at Shanxi, so he summarized this must be the same tech. "Keep focusing fire on those smaller corvette sized ships, and don't get too close, they'll chew us up right back!" Gainus ordered. Their element of surprise would only last for another minute at most, before the Skinnies took out the ships in their midst with lasers, something the Turians also had no defense against.

As he watched, one of the Skinnie dreadnoughts changed direction and started to move towards his lance formation, intent on destroying the intruding cruisers and frigates. None of the mass effect rounds they hurled seemed to hit it, always scraping the edges, and he was worried that that ship was gonna make it into range so it could rip apart the cavalry. Then a massive crimson beam lanced out of the Terran's Fleet, and burst a huge hole through the ship, cutting it in half, and sparking massive secondary explosions that literally rippled space around it.

Wondering what ship had done that, he followed the beam on the holographic map, and saw that it came from the first dreadnought sized vessel he had seen the Humans use. And on the holographic map, he could see that the Terran ship was out of action, whatever it had done, the ship had burnt out its control systems, leaving it a floating hulk of metal.

But he wouldn't forget the ship's assistance, "Auxiliary flotilla, move in and help that Terran dreadnought!"

**~[==|==]~**

General La'Mon watched the battle in annoyance, things had been going okay, despite the setback of the Terran flanking force, and the unexpected alien reinforcements, and the destruction of one of the dreadnoughts outright.

But he had a few cards left hidden, "Send 50 of the remaining reserves to hit the rear of the Terran formation against those aliens ships. Then call a tactical withdrawal to the planet." The Terrans and aliens would be forced to secure their rears while the main Hegemony fleet pulled back orderly, as the Terrans were disorganized, it would make it so his disengagement would not be costly, and he would then get the Libertatem's missile network to support him to cause the killing blow, alongside the remaining 50 reserve ships tearing apart their rear once more.

The forward defense had been a complete success, he was confident the Terrans had no more reinforcements incoming any time soon. Despite him losing nearly 200 ships to various causes. He was certain he could still win this.

"Sir the Libertatem are firing their missiles." One of the Bridge staff reported, perplexed a bit.

"Good they are not completely- wait, what?!" La'Mon was at first expecting them to move up to support his retreat, but he realized almost immediately he had not given them the order, and they wouldn't risk themselves for his people. Looking to the tactical screen, he prayed, hoped that he was wrong. He hoped that what he expected did not happen, but it did, the missiles smashed into the retreating Petolemaic ships, and blossoms of nuclear fire appeared. Their perfect retreat almost immediately morphed into blind panic. Dozens of ship commanders voices screamed out in surprise and a request of knowing who fired. Many of them were also silenced mid sentence.

La'mon was thrown across his ship's bridge into a view screen, cracking his head and dazing him, "We've lost life support and propulsion! Structural integrity at 10%! We've lost nearly 100 ships in that, Admiral- ADMIRAL!" His XO reported and moved to him in alarm,

His XO, reading the situation, lowered his head in shame, before pulling up the intercom for the ship and fleet, "Evacuation, I repeat, evacuation is in order. All ships, disengage and withdraw from the battle! Curse the traitorous Libertatem!" Picking up his Admiral with the help of another, they ran to the escape pod for the bridge and left just in time, before their dreadnought was also reduced to chunks of metal.

**~[==|==]~**

**TFS DR-243 **_**Río de la Plata**_**, John A. Warden class Dreadnought **

Sky Marshal Richard Riverfield released the breath he had been holding for nearly five minutes. "Oh my god, we won." He whispered to himself, as he watched the Skinnie Fleet flee in all directions. He didn't know why the ships near Cassandra had turned on the Skinnies, and didn't particularly care since they had fled immediately afterwards flashing the Terran Auxiliary codes, the only thing he cared about was the information they had gathered from this battle: The Skinnies weren't stupid, and were particularly clever and had an intelligence source. The weapons the Turians used were very good against Skinnie ships when they had the range and surprise, and that the Federation needed a good defense, in case the Federation and Turians ever got into a scuffle. Maybe he was letting his belief that the only people looking out for the Terrans were the Terrans, get the better of him, or maybe he was just being careful and that they needed to be ready for all eventualities. After all, the Turians weren't the only new force out there.

The other thing he had learned was that the Skinnies did have some commanders to worry about, though the one that had been leading this fleet was likely dead or soon to be captured. Although this was a battle that he would normally never have engaged in, but the pressing time table forced his hand. Normally he would have done a hit and run attack, pull the Skinnies out of their favourable position and catch them in a series of carefully planned ambushes over the course of a few weeks, grind them down in a war of attrition and then strike them when they were weak and running low on supplies. It would have been a campaign that would have taken months, but he didn't have months, he had days. And that haste in battle cost him thousands of good men and women, and nearly a hundred ships permanently destroyed, or critically damaged. He was a strategist, he wasn't like Enolo, who was a tactician, that's why he relied on a large staff of field commanders to command the battles.

Nearly every single ship had some form of battle scar and needed repairs, including the Turian ships, who despite their surprise and range, had taken losses of nearly 25% of their vessels, and all of their ships needed repairs ranging from catastrophic, to minor. But it was not unexpected, judging from the casualties they took at Shanxi, where they took a pummeling even against the fleeing Skinnie raiders. They relied too much on their kinetic barriers, and didn't have enough armor, resulting in the lasers causing almost fatal hits in a single shot. But god damn were they fast, agile, and quick firing. They were lightning bruisers, but also glass cannons.

Sitting back in his chair, he went about the business of finishing this campaign, the Mobile Infantry were preparing to land on Cassandra to clear out the rest of the Skinnie forces, and have the destroyers and the cruisers that are still in working order chase down the Skinnies as far as they can. Every one else was to secure the system to get that communication hub back up and running, and collate all the missed messages on the answering machine.

Although early reports were saying the ground forces were advised not to land on Cassandra by the local garrison, and that the Skinnies were actually in the middle of agreeing to the surrender terms he had laid out. It turns out the Curse of Cassandra had also affected them, and only wanted to get off the planet. Fine by him, but now he needed to put them somewhere out of the action for a long time.

**~[==|==]~**

**Somewhere in the Petolemaic Hegemony, 2657 GS october /30/2329 AD**

Grand Admiral Tel'rock, smiled happily, as he watched the work crews trying to free the device, from the layers of ice that it formed over it. He knew if he looked long enough, he would find another gateway, like the one that it brought the Turians to Shanxi, and so he had. Sure it would take some time to get her up and running, and figure out how it works, but whoever was on the other side would be in for a rude awakening.

In the back of his mind he thought, he probably should be focusing all efforts against the Terrans, but with how easy they conquered Cassandra, and by doing so, knocking the entire southern region out of the war for a few months, he thought he could take some time to open up a second front against the Turians, and make sure they didn't come to the Terrans aid.

To Be Continued

Author note

get a fanfic account Axcel *shakes fist* i like to talk to my reviews it gives me ideas.

Axcel

Chapter 1: Canon says mass effect universe frigates have no mass accelerators. Their only weapons are the guardian defense lasers. Alliance frigates include javelin missiles, but the other species consider that to be overkill and pointless.

The Turians brought this on themselves. Buzzing was a good idea, sending two ships to buzz is foolish as it appears much more hostile. It would be easy to misunderstand the maneuver as a "distract and shoot" kind of tactic. Though, this is one of very few fics I've read that has the Human-Turian first contact incident be a genuine accident.

By the way, I'm pretty sure the ships from Starship Troopers Chronicles and the new CGI movie have magnetic shields. Those would work against council ship weapons.

**L4 of the West: huh didn't know that.**

**Well that is exposed to be an example of different doctrine the Citadel treat their vessels like planes, the Terran treat their designs like naval ships**

**Well yes and no, those magnetic shields are a by product of the FTL engine the Federation use, as a result the shields are only powerful enough to stop attacks when the ships is moving at high speed **

**Blood Raven: Uhhh, where does it say that? I tried to research your point, but I can only find evidence against that. After all what weapons would they use besides an Accelerator and GARDIANS? Missiles obviously, but then why don't you use an accelerator because it has a faster fire rate and much greater capacity for ammunition storage? That leaves questions of what would the Citadel use if not missiles or accelerators. **

**For the Magnetic shields, it's likely also a plot thing so it can excuse the fact that things moving at high speed don't go splat as they hit an undocumented asteroid, or micrometeorites, or dark matter, or the various crap in space. **

Chapter 2: The ships sent by the hierarchy are too few to be called a fleet. More like a scout group accompanied by a dreadnought.

**Blood Raven: It would still be an independent fleet, even if it was smaller than what would be considered normal. A better term for it would be a Task Force. Expect Changes in the future.**

Chapter 3: Why are you having the Turians' weapons ignore shields? You also forget something. On impact, a laser explosively converts what it touches into plasma for an instant. This releases a massive amount of kinetic damage. Therefore, ships designed to fight enemies that use lasers would be designed to withstand at least as much kinetic damage as the barriers of a mass effect ship. Otherwise everyone would quickly reach mutually assured destruction.

**L4 Of the West: They don't have shields they have armor. **

**Blood Raven: The Ragnar is a scout ship barely 150 meters long. It is lightly armed and poorly armored to increase its speed and capabilities. It wasn't made to go on a toe to toe fight with an unknown alien ship. It was taken out after a few direct hits by a Turian cruiser surprising it. **

Chapter 6: This is an awesome fic full of badass! :D

**L4 of the West: I try**

Chapter 10: Kinetic barriers counter incoming mass, not force. The fact they still get taken out by a handful of shots of "smaller than a grain of sand" bullets implies a modern bullet would go through the barrier and still be quite lethal.

**L4 of the West: Good because morita are better than modern weapons.**

**Blood Raven: The larger caliber of the Morita is like .30 cal or something ridiculous. Anyways, I always considered the ME guns to be seriously underpowered compared to modern day weapons. If the Turians or any ME force ever encounters a bug hive, I will literally write that not a single bug died to their guns, since if you watch the movie, you see the Bugs withstand a lot of abuse from the larger caliber, faster firing, and much more effective Morita rifles, and still keep coming with half their limbs blown off. It's like fighting Krogan, in blood rage, and there is a million of them coming to zerg rush. And that's just the basic bug.**

**Lord Foul: I have issues to this idea. not of the ME guns not working on bugs, sure all but the best ME guns will be very ineffectual just from numbers and speed alone not to mention the armor, but not with them being weaker than modern weapons or barriers not working on them that's just silly, also countering mass counters force by itself F=M/A and all that rot**

Chapter 13: I love this fic! I especially like the reporter tearing into that Asari about better alternatives to or variations of the genophage and about the abandonment of the Quarians.

T'phai is right about Humans and scapegoats in our history. The reasons for minority cultures within larger societies sometimes being used as scapegoats is, I think, mostly due to survival instincts. Those who adhere to their own culture completely instead of merging their culture and the society their culture lives in are consciously or unconsciously looked upon with suspicion as a potential threat to the society. Even those who do integrate their culture with the society's culture can, at times, be seen as suspicious (though in this case, less likely to be considered a potential threat).

After all, the culture of a society forms around what is conducive to survival. Therefore, another, different culture existing within the society would cause those who are of the society's dominant culture to have an instinctive concern over that other, minority culture's presence as a potential risk to the survival the dominant culture developed to ensure. Thus, antagonism towards that "alien" culture's presence in the community can be easily stirred up to use as a scapegoat by individuals seeking to ride the violent wave to power or to maintain their power by using the scapegoat culture to look like they are protecting the society from visible, immediate threats.

**L4 of the West: This is why you need an account that was a good long conversation that may have led to story ideas. (Translation, courtesy of Blood Raven) If you had an account we could have a conversation about the story.**

**Blood Raven: I remember reading that dictatorships and people like that use minorities as scapegoats and stuff to keep the gravy train of fear and suspicion on them so they can keep in control, (Hitler with the Jews. various islamic states with the Shia Sunni split, ect.). It's generally despicable. But it's sooo something the Federation would do being pretty fascist in its own right. **

**And I always found it odd that the Krogan were never studied and the very obvious threat of overpopulation coming into effect. Its very obvious thanks to their breeding habits, and yet no one ever thought that they should talk to the Krogan about it. I mean the Genophage is so bad, that Krogan females are literally considered infertile, and some will kill themselves over that. The Salarians made it to control population, but had no true idea of how it would affect the Krogan mindset, and that it would literally be a sterility plague, despite them not wanting it considered as such, it still ended up as it. **

Chapter 15: Catachan Devils!? Yaaaay! The Guard has arrived! :D

**L4 of the West: BLOOD RAVEN! Did you sneak warhammer in here!**

**Blood Raven: Yes yes I did. and I made one more reference in here as well for the Guard. A cookie if you spot it. I also made another Hero of the Imperium reference in that chapter.  
Lord Foul: I love how shameless you are about that, hilarious**


	17. Short Stories 3 Book one

**Author**** note three short stories and a answering review section make this chapter up**

* * *

**For BlueMoon and AllforMe you requested it and this how I figured out how to give you the info you wanted**

**Fleet Numbers**

**Terran federation, Earth. SICON high Command**

**Office Of Fleet logistics**

**Sometime after contact with the Citadel Council**

**2657GS october /25/2329 AD**

Lola Ramsey sighed tiredly, as she tried to ascertain if changing the universal ship registration, to citadel standard, was worth the effort. Really she didn't see the point in even considering it. There was something like thirty thousand ships throughout the federation officially: From full military craft, to merchant marine freighters, to company held and private ownership, and mothballed boneyards.

And the Mass Effect wouldn't affect the way the fleet worked anyways. Groups of small ships or frigates as central command called them would be still called a flotilla, and would be typically arranged for scouting and patrolling groups. Larger groups about cruiser size would be organized into squadrons and would be used for defense, coordinating planetary attack groups, hunter killer patrols, and major actions. Each region fielded five fleets of cruisers, although talk of commissioning a sixth fleet for each region was being spawned due to increased membership in the military, thanks to a higher population. Soon thirty thousand ships would multiply into 50, then 75, ect. Population exploded exponentially after all.

Shaking her head, and taking a long drag on her cigarette to clear her mind, she reached over for her coffee. Taking a sip, she decided to start this process by company.

Pulling up Cherenkov Industries, the oldest shipbuilding company in the federation. First was the outdated Galileo Class A Science Vessel, produced first in 2178, and 135 meters. It had no real defense weapons and was being retired from even the boneyards, doomed to the scrapheap and museums. So it was rather quick to list. Next was the Cortez Class Recon Cruiser, designed in 2229. Fast and small at 150 meters, and lightly armed to boot. Again she was being retired, used only as training boats. Though she heard they were planning to replace her with a bigger 250 meter model.

Upcoming were the old cruisers, Valley Forge Class, created in 2230, they ranged from 400 to 600 meters, and were the first true warships made by the federation. They would be considered a cruiser by citadel standards, so she didn't have to change much, though since they were no longer in production, she doubted it would be long until they were retired as well.

Taking another drag on her smoke, she moved to the newest offering from Cherenkov, the Alesia Class Destroyers, in production since 2324 AD, 250 meters long. Considered a frigate by citadel standards, no shock there, but humans referred to them as a destroyer class anyways thanks to its armament and doctrine.

Finally there was the John A. Warden Class Dreadnought. 750 meters long, and still being constructed since 2327 AD. Hard to believe the most powerful ship in the federation, wouldn't even be considered Dreadnought class by citadel standards, but then again from what she understood, the weapons and tactics were vastly different. Citadel dreadnoughts were a big ass gun that could be used at great distance to bring death, and close up it was of relatively little use. Federation dreadnoughts were covered in guns and were meant to be the spearhead through the enemy formation, reaping death as they did so.

Considering both sides as she took a long drag, she leaned back and kicked her feet up to ponder the two doctrines. The Citadel liked their big ones as back range artillery, to pound an enemy, soften them up for the cruisers and frigates to focus their fire to finish off those without their kinetic barriers. The Federation dreads' were made to be line breakers, a literal tank to breach their formation, make a gap so that they could shatter the battle line. Thinking about it, she stubbed her cigarette butt on the ashtray. Both were powerful tools, but unless the federation could close the range, they were out classed by the Citadel's artillery. Of course, it was two different hammers to crack a nut. The plus side is the Federation dreadnoughts were much more numerous, but then that was mostly a legal issue for them with their treaty of farixen, or some such rubbish.

Lighting up a new cigarette she moved on to the rest. The worst and best ship making company in the federation. The worst because they hadn't changed their design in two hundred years. Best because they produced the most ships of any of the companies, and had sold licences to make their designs dirt cheap to civilian companies, so they were the most recognised brand out there. Terran Shipyards, because when you're naming yourself, why not make a ridiculous claim like being the literal heart of Sol's Shipmaking? The company responsible for the Rodger Young Class, and the one responsible for how fucked up the class naming system was.

The ship was good, no doubting that, but they called a 550 meter ship a frigate, even she knew that was ridiculous. Not to mention their ships had fallen into the hands of the Skinnies, the Coven, rogue/criminal forces, hell just about anybody, and it wouldn't be long until some of people from the Citadel got their hands on it.

Taking a much longer drag than usual, she rubbed her forehead in annoyance and got to work. The frigate's designs were modular, which made them good multipurpose vessels, and had been drafted and constructed in 2194. They followed that up with the Escort Frigate template in 2195, at a length of 250 meters, they changed the design from two, to three nacelles, to keep the patent going in 2230. They were just a smaller version of the first ship, so they could be considered frigates. Then there were the 400 meter Gunboat monitor ships they constructed in 2233, for planets who wanted a ship with guns, but didn't want interstellar capability, again cruiser size.

They also created the Fleet Battle-Stations, but they weren't really ships, so she didn't need to bother there. They had been trying to get the government to fund their new Roger Young for years now, the 1500 meter Star Battleship, but the government wanted numbers not size. After all they weren't the damn Citadel, whose primary weapons power relied on the ship size. Taking a hit on her cig', she spread the final documents into a pile with one hand.

Happy to be done with the worst company, she moved onto one of the newest federation ship providers. Pantheon Ship Builders, created by employees of Terra's Shipyards who got sick and tired of building the same damn thing, and decided to do the exact same thing only not as boring. They had tried to supplant the Roger Young with the Athena Class, having the same modular design in the beginning. But then the bug war started, and they changed the designs to be more purpose built, but with the same aesthetic. Finishing her second cigarette in just as many minutes, her office room had become smoky and hazy, like some fucking noir novel.

The first Athena to come out was the 600 meter Armored Cruiser in 2321, the conversion had led to the only broadside ship in the fleet, but since she had the biggest guns, she was very useful. The citadel equivalents would consider her a cruiser of course, so no big change there. Their next ship was the 850 meter Super-Carrier template in 2326. Able to carry fighters, bombers, and soldiers, it had some of the best sensor and communications systems, and was often used as the flagship. She wasn't sure what the citadel specs would consider it, since it wasn't a cruiser or Dreadnought. Inhaling deeply with her cigarette, she mused that perhaps the aliens would have to make a new ship class.

Finally there as the 550 meter Battle Cruiser designed in 2327. Not much to talk about for this one, as she transcribed the length and class to the Citadel standard for the squid heads. The Battle Cruiser was just another ship in the grand scheme of things, and another cruiser. They also wanted to build a big ship, something like a 2200 meter Command Cruiser, but that was a pipe dream, stupidly expensive, and just plain stupid, "Yeah, hey! Shoot this very big target that is so very obviously very important." Chuckling she smiled, '_Fuck yo' grammer.' _she thought blissfully, letting her smoke burn while she held it between her lips.

Man she must be getting more bored of this by the second. Moving on as she removed her cigarette from her mouth, breathing in some more fresh air, she looked onto the last group of ship builders. Technically speaking that was all of the federation controlled ship companies, but one of the companies that had been providing the lasers for all these ship had recently stepped into the ring. Yini-Mina Precision Devices had crafted the Ryuho Class Battleship, and at a full kilometer in size, it would be considered a dreadnought by the Citadel. Yini-Mina constructed it with their own funding in order to show the usefulness of it to the fleet. About how powerful a few big ships could be, and if it was successful, they had lined up a smaller version of it called the Hunter-Killer Cruiser 200 meters shorter. Who knew what else they may come up with, but they seemed like they were preparing to take a place with the other three companies by force.

Of course Terran naval combat had shifted away from large ships since before the second world war. Battles were won by the person with better field presence, numbers, and tactics. Typically through the deployment of fighter sized craft. She could see the place of the Ryuho in the fleet as sniper artillery, like the Citadel Dreadnoughts, but they would be a resource soaker, when they could just crew a fair few more ships instead that did the same job.

Finishing off her last cigarette she reviewed the files, tapping the ash from her smoke into her ashtray, as she checked for errors and began to give her stamp of approval on the documents, shoving them up the chain of command.

Going over the aliens ships could wait, right now, she had to tackle one jar of worms at a time… "Fuck! I need to get out of this office already!" She loudly complained.

* * *

**Arena Of Revenge **

**Serpent Nebula, Citadel, Presidium, Laser arena 2657GS July/8/2329**

Erica dodged a blue taiser laser as it arced over her head, "GOD DAMN YOU MAGHERNUS!" She screamed in impotent rage. All she wanted to do was beat the shit out of the guy who ripped her arm off, instead she had ended up in this stupid arena, facing that ass hat, and four of his Klandathu surviving fuck-buddies. This wouldn't be as embarrassing if she could've convinced any of the Mobile Infantry garrison to team up with her, but of course no one was interested in taking on the fleet engineer and his pals. So the only guys loyal enough to her were her captains, and few members of her ships crew, thank god Maghernus promised that her rank wouldn't be in jeopardy. He had wanted to make a point that the Terrans could be civil and solve their problems affably.

Everything went well at first, they had traversed three fourths of the way to their flag then they had been ambushed, and lost one of her crew to the laser taser. Pulling back into another trap, the destroyer captains and been shocked out.

Now the last of her squad was pinned down by the enemy in a cul de sac. The god damn survivors were too good to fight fairly, the years fighting for their life against bugs had resulted in some of the best troopers Erica had ever met. And fuck from the way the crowd were cheering, they were enjoying this one sided fight.

"Ma'am! I don't want to be tazed like this! You got any ideas?!" Lieutenant Lorraine, the other member of her party, asked, yelling out as he blind fired his rifle.

"Well I got one idea but you're gonna have to help me walk afterwards." Erica said peeking out and nearly taking a taser round.

* * *

Jake watched though his snooper from the flag watchtower. He was really not a fan of this whole stupidity, but he had to hand it to Maghernus, if it kept them from getting real punishment he was all in. And the bonuses for his reputation would be awesome! He would be glad when it was over, and he could get back to his date with the twins.

Well, okay he didn't know if they were twins, but goddamn he was not going to miss a chance to get laid! He'd been celibate for seven goddamn years! He wished he'd never gone to that god damned planet, things had been going good for him before it, he was not in jail, he still drank too much but he'd gotten himself a girlfriend too, god he missed Anny.

Annette Lorenzo had been a fleet girl he'd been dating before the invasion, he tried to look her up when he got off that hell hole, but her name was common enough that he was forced to look her up by ship, and he found out her ship went down about six months after the invasion all hands lost. It hurt, but this was war, everything was painful, and he was content to drink and fuck his pain away. And kick that Commodore's ass!

Looking through the snoopers, he saw someone stick their foot a little too far out, his boys acted fast as the wind, with a zap the owner of the foot fell over, and only one enemy was left standing. his men decided to charge the hold out, knowing they would take losses but secure the win. At least that's what should have happened, but his vets were shot down as they rounded the corner, a moment later he saw one of Erica's troopers helping the one legged girl walk.

"Nice catch. But you got lucky there." Jake said, applauding Erica's counter ambush. putting down his snoopers he picked up his gun and walked down the ramp. He was going to give her the fight she wanted so much.

* * *

Erica hopped along with the help of Lorraine, she tried to put weight on it but the mechanics were all locked up pretty good, meaning she had to limp everywhere. Looking around she wondered where Jake was, he hadn't been with the others, which meant they still had to keep their eye on the lookout for him. He could be waiting in ambush again.

Rounding a corner, Jake was standing unabashedly in the center of the road, and fired at the pair. Lorraine pulled them back just in time as red lasers streaked by.

"Come on out and pla~ay Erica! There is only two entrances to the flag, and I can get to each much faster, so let's end this now and get this over with." Jaked called from around the corner. "Old western style!" Unslinging his rifle he smiled wide.

"Thanks for the idea." Erica whispered then motioned Lorraine to leave her and find the other entrance. Leaning against the wall, Erica looked around the corner, "Hey Jake ever done a old time gun fight?" She asked wanting to keep him here.

"Maybe once or twice on Klendathu. Throw your rifle around the corner and I'll throw mine as well. and we can have it." Jake called back.

Limping around the corner, Erica threw her rifle down. Both of them had their hands hover over their sidearms.

"Well it's better than letting you pin me down." Erica called back.

Maghernus from his seat with the other ambassadors smiled. Lifting up a microphone he got on his best announcer voice, "Looks like we got an old fashioned duel!" The spectators cheered. "Three... Two… ONE! Draw!"

In the brief few seconds, a lot happen. With lightning swiftness, both persons flipped their pistols from their holsters. They fired simultaneously, and both were true with their rounds, convulsing and shuddering as they were electrically shocked, both fell to the ground.

A few seconds later Lorraine came around to the other Red base entrance, ran up the ramp, and began to wave the captured flag. The cheering was deafening. As victory was made for Erica's Blue team, everyone's armor unlocked and they were allowed to rise. Everywhere the camera drones were recording every second of victory and defeat.

When the pain subsided Erica pulled herself up, "Okay, let's never talk about this, ever again."

"Agreed." Jake commented helping her up. Now both standing, they shook hands in mutual friendship and hatred, before moving towards the exit. Maghernus smiled as he watched the crowd cheer and clap. Looking to the Krogan emissary to his left, Sarbon Hurr, he chuckled, "I hope you found that most entertaining…"

* * *

BloodRaven: Sooo….. I didn't realize he made this, not until like a week ago. So I was very happy to see this! The fight was just supposed to be a one off joke anyways. :D

* * *

**North West Terran Federation Territory, Drapus, Ironside Street, May/26/2329 AD**

Colonel Roza Bereza pulled out her compact Brunham Reaper Pistol, and took up a position on the side of the club's door. The eight men of the pathfinder squad took up positions on either side of the door with her, or at the other entrances. The people outside were backing away at the sight of the black clad SICON officer, though one civilian was recording them with a video camera for some reason. Roza carefully extended her mind into the room trying to get an idea of what and who was inside the room.

She could sense a few people inside, and at first glance they would appear human, but once you knew who you were dealing with you could tell who was what. The Coven always had a snide, holier than thou attitude, and that worked in Roza's favor, there were only four humans inside the main room, maybe more further in, as for the coven there were four on the stage and two working behind the bar. Tasting their emotions she didn't detect suspicion or worry. Yet.

Grinning widely behind her face mask, she signaled to the squad. When they were ready, she moved in front of the door, and using her suits augmented strength, kicked the door off its hinges into pieces, and shot a bikini clad dancer on the stage.

Sergeant Adamić next to her shot the other stage girl with his assault shotgun, turning the coven into ribbons of meat before she could react. As their bodies headed for the ground, their skin, or what was left of it, turned blue.

The pathfinders wasted no time entering the room, shouting for everyone to get down and knocking tables over for cover. The other two coven on the stage ducked for cover on the opposite side of the stage. One of the pathfinders moved to gun down the two hiding behind the bar when the bartenders popped up with mind blast rifles. The multi-colored beams burnt though his suit in a moment, and burned out his brain leaving him a vegetable.

"Well this is just great, they got Covie weapons! I thought they would have federation weapons!" The pathfinder corporal complained, as he readied his LMG, and proceeded to shred the hardwood bar and blow apart the two coven.

"Two down, two to go." Roza mused with a dark chuckle, peeking out of cover where she had last seen the strippers. Something black moved out from cover, but upon tasting its intent, something about it didn't feel right, and Roza had to stop herself from leaning out of cover to shoot it.

One pathfinder did and he was greeted by the smiling face of a coven, taking a shotgun blast to his face, the trooper fell back into cover, the pellets having lodged in his armor and helmet, damaging it but he was otherwise okay, if that had been Roza she would have a closed casket funeral. "Well fuck this." Roza cursed. '_Time to get creative.'_ She thought.

Focusing her mind, she sent a out a wave of pain throughout the main area of the club. Without mercy or distinguishing of target, everyone: the pathfinders, the civilians, the coven, all screamed out in extreme pain, as they felt intense but non lethal pain. This created an opening for her, running and jumping onto the stage, she executed one coven, and pistol whipped the other so hard she felt something break and the coven fell unconscious. Looking around she saw that the stage had a hidden hatch with weapons inside, they had been prepared for an attack.

The Pathfinders were well trained, well drilled infantry, the best of the best, they didn't voice any complaints, but she could feel their stares and taste their anger.

"I apologize, Troopers, but we can't afford to be bogged down." Roza declared, stepping back and showing the pathfinders the weapons cache under the stage.

Their heavy weapons specialist whistled low in approval, "They've been preparing for this eventuality, me think's."

"What are you waiting for you fuckers? Secure the area, Bravo team secure the exits and make sure no one gets out without being cuffed and loaded!" Sergeant Adamić ordered out before getting next to Roza, "Where did they get all this gear? I thought we had this planet under strategic lockdown?" He asked to Roza as an aside, while the team started to spread out and gather the civvies and their prisoner.

"Black market for sure. The local garrison doesn't have gear of this quality or make. And age, fuck some of this is a century old at least." Another pathfinder, their weapons specialist, proposed as he got in the little cache and pulled out an old single shot grenade launcher, "Hot damn ma'am! I haven't seen gear like this outside of museums and collectors! Can we keep them? Oh fuck is that a China Lake?!"

"Could be the Lagoom Cartel. They've been known to smuggle weapons in these parts." A female pathfinder suggested as she pulled out a Morita carbine from behind the bar, "They also got mental disruptor rifles, implying they got outside supply from their superiors. I'd keep an eye out for booby traps boys, these sneaky gits have had plenty of time to lay them, and I'm sure they would have no problem blowing this place sky high if they deemed it necessary."

"Well shit," Adamić cursed, "that means we could be facing anything, from morita rifles to power suits."

"It doesn't matter," Roza regained control of the conversation, "we have a job, and the blue bitch in charge of this shindig is in the back office, and I sense there are at least least four more coven and... something else between her and us."

"Something what?" The pathfinder with the broken helmet asked, as he removed the now useless covering.

"I think they're humans, but their minds are... altered... Shit. Okay, non lethal if you can help it. Stun 'nades and batons." Roza ordered, and everyone readied their stun batons and added shock Bayonets to their rifle lugs.

When everyone in the club main room was ready, and the outer guard reported all clear, they began to move toward the back of the stage into the already secured dancer's prep room. From there they saw a hallway deeper into the club's store room and to the offices.

As they were entering the halfway, two coven leaned around doorways further down and fired at them with mind blast rifles, forcing the group to dive into side rooms and offices. Roza screamed in frustration, the longer they were here, the longer the Bitches had to escape. Getting back to her feet quickly, she heard gunshots from the other rooms. Using her powers she pushed out in all directions, and found a Coven hiding in the shadows. The coven leapt, and tackled her to the ground and grappled Roza's pistol, "Your mind is mine!" The Coven declared on top of Roza, steadily applying more of her body weight downwards.

Roza smiled, "No, it's not." Focusing, she smiled even wider behind her mask, then she mentally struck right into the covens mind. The covenant screamed in pain and terror, the image of Roza smiling daemonically printed right in her mind. She fell back, blood pouring from her nose. If she been human or skinnie, that would have killed the blue woman, but a covenant's mind was meant to take that kind of abuse, but not the kind a pistol round to the noggin brought. As the coven laid in a slump on the floor, blood and brain matter splattered across the back wall, Roza made her way to the hallway to see how the rest of the witch hunters had done.

The coven that were firing from the hall were dead, either shredded by LMG fire, or smoked out by grenades. A pathfinder had emerged from one room covered in rich crimson blood, most not his own. There was a chunk missing out of his side, "They had two light armor soldiers in there acting like guards. I took a shotgun to the side." He muttered to the squad medic, as she got to work bandaging him up.

Mika, the Squads criminal intelligence officer from before, came out of another room carrying the head of a coven by her hair in one hand, her bloody machete in the other, "Damned kučka tried to mind game me, don't they know that we've been trained for this?"

"Probable don't know you are pathfinders." Roza supplied as she did a head count, "Or they don't give a shit. They do look down on us all."

No human casualties, the few humans thralls that were found had been incapacitated. The rest of the pathfinders made their way out of the other rooms reporting no contact, and Roza could confirm no more were hidden.

That meant they only had their leader, and that other mind. And the final room to clear was the Boss' office, "Perimeter team, send two soldiers to breach the roof of the main office, Hunters, SBC 5-5, stack up on the door. Breach and clear, we're taking them all alive." No sense in playing fair and obvious. They would breach the roof with a thermite charge and at the same time they would breach the only entrance and then a wall to complete the crossfire.

In less than a minute her pathfinders were in place, planting small charges on the door, wall, and roof, Roza counted down before pulling the clapper and detonating the charges. Mere milliseconds after the door was blown open, Flash bangs and concusion grenades were tossed in as well.

The roof also was blown apart and more stun grenades were dropped in and the side also threw in more. Simultaneously half a dozen Pathfinders rushed in and fired up their stun batons and tasers. When the gunfire culminated in a Pathfinder being launched out of the room, Roza knew something was up. Entering the room with the Sergeant, she saw the missing Investigations agent being held in the tentacled arms of a monster, a blade against her neck, five unconscious pathfinders laid about the room like a wild party had occurred, and next to the multi tentacled beast sat the head covenant infiltrator, rubbing her eyes numbly as she was trying to recover from being hit with enough flash bangs to given an epileptic a seizure.

Her eyes remained closed, and Roza could feel her power swish around like a tongue to locate her enemies, "So you terrans were smart enough to have backup after all," the Leader paused to rub her eyes again, "such a shame, I was really beginning to like this planet." Roza could tell that the leader, while dazed, blinded, and deafened, was still a force to be reckoned with alone.

Roza raised her reaper and aimed it at the covenant, "Oh I wouldn't try anything if I were you." the coven warned, her power's focus entirely on Roza, licking at the peripheries of her vision, taking all her power just to keep it out. the tentacled beast pushing the blade closer to the catatonic Lilith's throat, "My friend here might just slip and kill my new pet."

Roza lowered her pistol slightly, and the other pathfinder followed suit, "Looks like we're at a temporary impasse. So what do you want here witch?" She smiled cruelly, signing with her hand to Sergeant Adamić.

"What do I want? Well that's easy I want to walk out the front door, simple as that, but I know you won't let me. Or you will just post a sniper to shoot me as soon as I step out the front door. So here's what I _need,_ everyone but you miss SICON Special Service Agent, to leave the room, then we will have a little talk." Raven said lazily pointing her hand at Lilith, "Or I will give your agent a new breathing hole."

Sergeant Adamić signed back,

"Are you nuts I'm not doing that." The blade lightly cut Lilith's throat, drawing blood, but not enough to harm her, but it made her point, "Here's a counter proposal, you disband the Nightmare, put your hands up, and allow me to take you prisoner. OR, we riddle both you and your pet Nightmare full of holes and we fix up Lilith the old fashioned way. There is no situation where you come out on top of this." Murderous intent expanded from Roza's mind, and Raven's psionic presence recoiled ever so slightly in alarm.

"I'd rather-" Raven started, but she was cut off by being shot by three tasers, and her pet nightmare was then riddled full of bullets, it's immaterial form taking damage, but not before it slit Lilith's throat on impulse. Oh well, they had medicine for that.

"Fuck you!" Roza screamed and laughed maniacally as she emptied her pistol's high powered bullets into the monster, before reloading and emptying it again. The pathfinders spent four minutes trying to bring the mental beast down with continuous gunfire, keeping it busy long enough for Roza to pull the bleeding Lilith out of the room. Since Nightmares didn't obey the laws of nature, it was especially hard work, but eventually the monster fell apart and dissolved into thin air.

Roza would've cheered if she wasn't helping keep Lilith alive after she had lost a huge amount of blood. Three of the pathfinders went and secured the unconscious coven.

"Mission success!" Roza declared, laughing as she got confirmation that Lilith would survive, even if she would need to get mind wiped.

"Uhh ma'am… This Witch is a body double." One of her Pathfinders explained. Looking back, the former leader now turned from an average sized covenant, into a dark skinned unconcious teen. "We found a hidden passage behind the bookcase. But by now she is long gone."

Roza's eye twitched, a vein popped, and every single person shivered in fear at her anger, "Then find her! We aren't letting that bitch escape!"

* * *

**Author notes**

If I get less than 5 reviews. I probably won't do this.

orion0905 chapter 16

Hello lord foul.

Fun chapter, I think you're forgetting something with ME guns, heat. The ammo would have significant heat when it impacts. Ask the waste energy gets displaced in terms of heat with something slowing down from supersonic to zero in impact. At the very least there should be pressure waves.

I'm not saying they would be super powerful, heck in the book and roughneck chronicles standard issue marauder armor is good for orbital drop. (I know they have drop pods so that helps with the heat displacement). I still place the Morita well above anything the ME races weapons. Or am I completely wrong here.

Great chapter, awesome space battle. I can't wait for more.

**L4**

**mhmm where the numbers for a basic Morita rifle 7.62mm munitions and accuracy at ranges in excess of 1,000m, it says something here that basic sounds like it half standard chemical propellant rifle half rail gun rifle.**

**Bloodraven**

**Keep in mind 7.62 is .30 cal ammo, typically used for LMGs. **

**For ME guns, yeah it has heat, but it's going against something that lives in the desert/space/ect where it has to deal with just as bad weather conditions or raw unadulterated radiation. And keep in mind while it's moving at supersonic speed, so is a regular bullet. But you do bring up a good point. And Lord Foul has something to say for clarification that I totally agree with.**

**Lord foul:**

**I'm not saying either side has better weapons 100% of the time either way, that's an argument that could get diehard fanboys and fangirls arguing for days with no headway, but the ME guns do have their place and are pretty damn effective in their niche, especially when you use them with an omni tool to configure the ammo to the needs of the current battle, or even the current moment of the current battle. I had times where in one fight I'd switch between incendiaries to radioactive to armor piercing to ice rounds, it's trivially easy if you have the equipment with their guns and gun accessories, and an armor piercing round could penetrate several meters of concrete.**

Lu Bane Na chapter 15

You have got to expand on that soldier's theory of the planet being a living entity that hates everybody. It would be beyond hilarious and throw all religious groups for a loop.

**L4**

**Ah i'll make shorty story sooner or later**

**BloodRaven**

**I'm happy someone found it amusing, not my most original idea, in fact it spawned from L4 making a joke that the planet must actually hate them. I just expanded on that to imply that it actually is true. If you want a story where this is a big thing, check out the Imperial Guard novel **_**Death World**_**, That's where I will be getting some inspiration for helping with the short story. **

**Lord Foul**

**I also find it funny without needing to poke fun at religions :P**

EvilTheLast chapter 16

Good updates. (Finally got around to reading the last few updates). I wonder what stupid thing Grand Admiral Tel'rock is about to do. Opening a new gateway into the unknown may end up with...probably with something nasty and not the Turians.

**L4**

**He is from the Skylian Verge, I think I've already stated first contact goes bad there.**

**BloodRaven**

**Actually yes, we implied heavily that it was doomed to failure.**

**Lord foul**

**we may never see him alive again**

JC chapter 16

Excellent work, Can't wait to see what happens Next.

Maybe have the Council talk about trying to double the Terrans ships.

**L4**

**Have a section and talk about the Council trying to arm up in case of war? If it's needed I'll write it.**

**BloodRaven**

**The Council already triples the Federations in numbers. and we said in the early council scenes that they were making plans for increased ship production thanks to the Arachnids.**

Lord foul

hmm it would make sense for them to increase their R&amp;D budget for weapons and increase war production**.**

iyaerP chapter 16

I am quite enjoying your fic, there are just a few problems I have noticed. You tend to fail to use the correct forms of they're, their, and there, and you have a tendency to have homophones of the word you actually mean. This is the kind of problem that stems from using an automatic spell checker without actually checking to ensure that the results are what was intended. I recommend you acquire an editor so that your fics can have a more professional and polished look to them.

**L4**

**I'll try and be better**

**BloodRaven**

**If thats the earlier work then it's my fault for rushing through it. If it's for later work. *Pulls out shotgun* I'll need to work harder than! Good news however! We have picked up two new editors. Lord Foul and spacewolflord! So hopefully these things will be less problematic.**

**Lord foul**

**I'm working on it ok, not a miracle worker :P **

**aso I've been busy at work lately, but that's mostly cleared up for now so woo**

Poliamida chapter 16

I'm having a ton of fun with this! I did watch the first and 3rd movie and have some vague memories of a cg animation but I didn't read the book or other source materials, so the skinnies and other aliens caught me by surprise. The Starship universe seems to be more interesting than I originally thought.

It's so refreshing to read a more, lets say, reasonable first contact.

A WH reference? Ha! I knew that Ollanius Pius wasn't a random name!

Keep it up

**L4**

**RAVEN!**

**Well the door was left open in the book that there may be more aliens out there and Mongoose publishing wanted to compete with warhammer 40k, and after it stopped production there was a lot fan content out made giving us the Fourth Republic, the Coven Expeditionary Force the Cyber Demons/Zombies from game canon, and the Smugs from Fan Canon.**

**BloodRaven**

**I watched all three movies when I was like 15 and younger. I have been doing a lot of research and I plan on actually making a chapter ending essay on thoughts and deconstruction of the actual Starship Troopers Universe. I also plan on reading the book since it seems interesting, and is actually required reading for several branches of US military service.**

**Ollanius Pius, the patron saint of the Imperial Guard. Fitting name I must say. **

**Lord Foul**

**So far I've found the book is the best of the franchise, I'm on the CGI now**

Templarsith chapter 16

I think the Krogen were studied and the big boss too one look at the report, then said o good we get lots of Krogens that they needed to wage war vs the bugs. Then after the war they could not change their stances on the Krogen race as they were war heroes. Then it bit them in the ass, to be honest while the big boss are smart they tend to make choices that favor today and not the marrow. As in the game you see them make choices without asking the experts or looking at the long term effects.

This is the real reason why I wrote this review. Its a idea that I thought of that would make you guys smile. Why have a mass effect shield on the outside the mobile infantry armor? Add it to the inside of the armor then all the lucky shots would not ping around in the amour killing the soldier. Also this would allow the armor to slow all the penetrating shots reducing the amount of force the mass effect shield would have to bleed off. Well I thank you for writing this great story please keep up the great work.

**L4**

**Interesting might use that**

**BloodRaven**

**Its insane that someone didn't say, "Hey I know you are awesome and heroes, but you should try and control your numbers until we get another war since you breed very quickly." It just seems something that while advantageous in a war, would be problematic in peacetime. Keep in mind this is coming from a Federation soldier, someone who believes wholly in sacrifice for the greater whole, if the krogan had to sacrifice some freedom to control their numbers, she wouldn't see a problem in it war hero or no.  
That's a possibility, if the ME shields weren't expensive, but they very much are, and suddenly buying say 100 million Kinetic barrier shields would drive the prices up to an unacceptable amount. The Federation Military numbers in the billions of both combat and noncombat troops. But nothing's stopping SICON from doing research into the feasibility of them, and I already estimate that they would be outstanding for Light Troopers and Police forces who are more vulnerable to solid slug fire from rebels/criminals. But keeping in mind that they are fighting bugs who use fire, plasma, poisoned/corrosive stingers, and brute force to kill people, it won't be that useful for them. Then we get involved with the crazy exotic weapons all the other factions use… Eventually it just doesn't make as much sense to outfit everyone with it, if at all. They would likely go the Citadel Council path of just outfitting specialist, commanders, commandos, ect. And allowing their soldiers to buy the better gear on their own time (Something that more than a few militaries, both 3rd world and 1st world, actually allow.)**

**TL;DR Don't worry, they're working on it. :)**

**Lord foul **

**I figure they did tell them such and the krogan leadership told them where to stick it. Look at wreav as a typical krogan leader and wrex as an exception (though I will say I love the guy he's not common)**

**I figure that they'll put the kinetic barriers on the Aces, but they're too expensive to immediately put them on everyone, maybe later they'll trickle down…. hmm maybe they could configure them to work on slower moving projectiles…. be more difficult on the liquid corrosives, the plasma and the fire, but would be pretty easy to program them to stop the stingers**

**something to look into.**

BlueMoon chapter 16

Great, I can't wait for the Next update.

Starship troopers can work in Other sci-fi series sometimes, they get teleported in and other it a fuse.

Like in Star wars Terra is in Wild space, there's no bugs, they meet the republic 5 or 3 years before the Clone wars.

**L4**

**had that idea myself back when i was working on stargate starship troopers cross. To that I say run with it hell I help with the idea bouncing, can't do it myself though having too much fun here**

**BloodRaven**

**If you do such a premise, just make sure you get an editor to help you, and make sure you do what you love. **

**Lord Foul**

**Some universes mesh well others don't. I've always found the "poof you're in another universe" thing to be lazy writing myself, so you gotta make sure they mesh.**


	18. The Monolith Incident: P1 B1 (10-10-16)

Edited by a person of many names Blood Raven AKA TimedRaven117. Go check out his story Mass Effect: X-Com Theory!

The Monolith Incident: Part 1

**~[==|==]~**

**Relay 314 system 2657 GS November /14/2329 AD**

Jack Harper looked out the periscope of the Gecko transport, as it sped across the barren wasteland that was the fifth moon of the Shanxi gas giant, The place was miserable, and not worth visiting. But he was still under contract to the Morita Arms Corporation, and they wanted him to protect the miners on this planet. Unfortunately something had found their prospector team, or more likely they broke their radio, either way he and his closest squad mates, Maria his sniper, Jackson their appointed driver, Ben his right hand man, and Eva his tech specialist, had to check it out. And if they were really in trouble then call in the rest of his men.

Thanks to the long sight lines, Maria was literally a god on wheels if they encountered anything less than a heavily armored tank. Eva had a high powered emitter and transponder on her person to call in help incase the Gecko's own radio went out. Ben knew how to drive this thing if Jackson somehow kicked it. Jack, and everyone else really, didn't take things by half, they'd been in heavy fighting, they'd seen movies, they'd passed and survived training courses dedicated to everything that can go wrong going wrong. They knew the pitfalls that they could expect, and even a few that were downright impossible for the moon. They'd be damned if they died from anything less than an invasion.

"When are they going to start terraforming this rock? I'm getting tired at looking at this shit." Their driver, Jackson, complained.

"I heard three years," Eva Core said from the communications seat, "the Federation wants to turn this system into a bottlehead bulwark against Citadel aggression and culture, so they're a bit busy settling the world and setting up defensive stations."

"Which means we'll either be out of a job soon, or have to move to another planet the Federation doesn't give two shits about." Ben Hislop explained oh so accurately.

"Well it could always be worse-" Jackson was saying before being properly interrupted by something running into the road right in front of the APC.

"Oh shit!" Jackson exclaimed after whatever it was splattered across their APC's cameras and view slit, bringing the vehicle to a stop. Jack was already up and out, the first one out the back door, making sure his powered suit helmet was secure and so was everyone else's as he went. The APC was not made for extended extra terrestrial activity so everyone relied on inbuilt air supplies.

Looking around he saw a crumpled form laying on the ground not to far away, and saw it was Humanoid shaped. "Oh shit, Jackson, I think you killed a guy!" He cursed, slowly walking toward the form, his side arm out in his hand. Whoever it was had been hit and ran over by an eight wheeled, few hundred tonne, war machine at full speed. By all rights chunky salsa should have come into effect. There was no question the figure was dead….

So why the hell did it start staggering to it's feet? Jack looked at his pistol dubiously, before holstering it and shouldering his Morita rifle. Backing away as the form seemed push its limbs back in place, Jack was about to call out in alarm for someone to get the heavy cannon out, before it turned to look at them. He had no idea what the hell it was, but it's eye glowed blue and its skin, what he presumed to have actually been a scientist's EVA suit, looked like it had mechanical scales rather than smooth flesh. Even his experienced discipline crumbled as memories of the Arachnids various terror weapons flooded his mind, and he began to fire his rifle full auto right into the figure's chest.

"What the hell are you shooting at Jack!?" Ben called out in a panic as he exited the vehicle himself to see his friend, not having seen the monster.

Jack felt his rifle go click, and where he had been shooting was only a puddle of scraps of blue flesh where the monster was. Panting, having only realized now he was screaming in terror, he looked back to his friend, "I have no fucking idea, but no taking off our suits and someone get me a bioanalysis machine pronto! I think we're dealing with something new." He took several steps toward the monster, and took note of how Human it looked, or at least what was left of it, "Eva, I want you to download and share my camera footage for the last minute, and mark this place on the map. Everyone else help me seal this in a biohazard bag so we can pick it up later. And someone call fucking homebase, and tell them to go on high alert and call the system garrison, we need reinforcements ASAP. I want all our bases fucking covered before this all goes to Klendathu! Let's get to that prospector base, get the data, then hightail it to basecamp!"

**~[==|==]~**

Jack had latched himself onto the side of the APC as it slowly crept toward the base camp, they were taking it careful and Maria was calling a stop once in a while to take shots at the monsters' heads with her Morita 202-SL Smart Long Rifle, or simply "Bolter", which was strong enough to down a tanker bug with a well placed shot. So far they had already killed a good number of them, but they barely accounted for a quarter of the prospector teams, and would still have to clear out the metal tents and prefabs to make sure that their buddies were still holding out, which they should be, they had the ammo, firepower, and smarts to stay alive. Then they had to deal with the tunnel going beneath the surface. There was something down there digging, because the mining drill was up here sitting next to a different tunnel.

After about three more stops, they rolled into the camp and the mercs stepped off the APC and began clearing the place, putting down the last of the monsters and sounding the general all clear. Ever since the bugs, the general defense and survival protocols had been refined, and not a single casualty had been taken. His team he had left behind had shown their stuff. As Jaime said, it was like the zombie apocalypse came, with all the flaws that came with it. Once they finished clearing the area, Jack had Eva check out the files on the database they literally ripped out of the prospector base in the name of time. And had Ben turn on the CHAS unit the local government loaned them.

"Keep that tunnel covered, and I want EVERYONE to stay in teams of three, everyone should be armed at all times. Whatever this is, it most likely came from down there. Get that CHAS unit ready to send down there to clear out any remaining zombies… we need a better name for these metal fuckers." Jack shouted out.

"Civilians, I want a soldier with you at all times, no exceptions, we can't take risks, and I want these bodies cleaned up in ten and put in body bags. I want a permanent guard with explosive charges ready just in case." Jack ordered as he checked the base's ammo supply and communications dish. Everything seemed to be in order thank god for small mercies. Walking over to the tent where Eva was, looking at the files they got from the abandoned prospector base, "Please give me some good news, and tell me this is not airborne. I know this rock doesn't got an atmosphere but I'd rather learn if it got in our air supply or not."

"Not airborne, at least, not in the sense you're thinking." She responded as she looked over the files, "The research notes recovered by the other team says they found an alien item they nicknamed the monolith, pretty deep below the surface."

"They turned on alien tech?" Jack sighed, shaking his head in disbelief that someone would be dumb enough to do so.

"No it was already on, and was giving out strange energy readings. The files indicate they they were going to hook up some science gizmos about the time Command lost contact with them. I can see that they lost a few of their number at once and then suddenly they started to get picked off and herded towards the chamber with the device, by the time they realized what was happening it was too late." Eva explained.

"Well that makes it easy," Jack said, sounding resolved.

"How so?"

"The problem is down there, not up here, we're safe and can let the Fed government take control of this situation, until then we can just seal up the hole, get on the horn and give the guys at command a status update. And even if it becomes a problem good ol' CHAS here can just walk a tactical nuke down into the chamber, set the timer someplace it can't be reached, and then walk out hunky dory. To be honest I kinda don't want ANYBODY have the ability to make space zombies. Especially those freaks in Paranormal Division. "

**~[==|==]~**

**Citadel Station 2657 GS November /21/2329 AD**

From the office of General Carl L. Jenkins to ambassador Maghernus,

_I'm sending you this handwritten and coded letter as confirmation. As you most likely will have heard, a strange artifact was found in the Shanxi, we tried to keep it under wraps, but some dock workers decided to let their loose lips sink ships. We are currently running counter intelligence, but we have no idea how far this rumor has spread. The artefact is contained for now, and I am in route with a full pathfinder company to make sure it stays that way with plenty of organic substitutes just in case it still targets us. But I have no doubt the council will be getting on your case about this, wanting in on this discovery or at least wanting to oversee this situation since it's what they typically do. With this in mind, I give you permission to allow one (1) of their Spectres, or a small team of properly informed experts, to oversee either the recovery or destruction of this object. Don't worry too much about any interference they may try, I can handle it if need be. _

Signed

General Carl L. Jenkins

PS. Drinks on me next time I visit. The stuff you got last time was terrible.

**~[==|==]~**

**Relay 314 system 2657 GS November /24/2329 AD**

Specter Illia Verpine looked over the files she had on the Federation again. She was personally surprised that the Federation was being so nice and letting her on one of them on their worlds, even if the legality of the planet was in dispute technically speaking. The "planet" was unable to support life currently, so the Citadel wouldn't really do anything with it. But the Terrans on the other hand seemed to enjoy using their terraforming tech, since they didn't use the relays much, it made sense to make use of every single planetoid you got. To add on to the legality question here, it was some corporation who was making use, or just blindly stumbled upon the tech here, not the Federal government itself. All in all it looked like the council was going to have to talk about borders for the Terran corporations so they didn't run rampant throughout Citadel space instead of the Federation itself. That would end poorly for everyone else as they tried to scramble to play catch up with all those solar resources they'd ignored up until now. Not to mention it would be beyond weird to have Terran colonies on some no name moon in the Apien Crest, or near Thessia.

Well at least this operation seemed simple, they had found some ancient tech that had caused, in the words of the first responders, mechanical zombiefication, all she needed to do was make sure the artifact was destroyed or deactivated. She personally hoped they all agreed on destroying it. This wasn't the first time some weird tech did something similar. And it certainly won't be the last. And tech like this was just not simply made for the likes of them. There had been rumors of objects like this before and the object had always been destroyed since they were most likely some kind of special munitions mine, or area denial weapon used in some ancient war, and some tech just needed to be lost to time. She heard stories and urban myths that on Earth, the Humans homeworld, even centuries later they find buried bombshells in places like Berlin, London, Seattle, or Hong Kong. This was no different really. Just detritus of the past

"Ma'am, We'll be setting down in a few minutes, we suggest you put on your vacuum sealed suit now." The pilot of the shuttle she contracted called from his seat. Closing her omni tool and checking over her armor and weapons, it was alway good to be prepared for the worst she had found in her long life of service.

Once the shuttle settled down on the planet, Illia unbuckled and walked out into the base camp the Terrans had set up to the open door. She hadn't expected a welcoming party, so she was a bit surprised to see a yellow haired Terran in a black trench coat with silver trimming flanked by several Terran soldiers in black armor with five eyed optical lenses as a mask. Everything about the group screamed black ops, and when the leader stepped forward she could tell who they were here for.

Stepping forward the Terran leader extended his hand and stated with a barest hint of a smile, "You must be the Spectre advisor I've been waiting for." He said calmly enough.

Looking at the hand, she remembered it was a simple Human greeting to shake their hand as a show of honesty and trust. Taking his hand gently, so she wouldn't scuff his suit with her claws, she nodded, "Yes sir. I'm Spector Verpine. You asked for a Turian who had tech experience, so here I am. To be honest sir you should have just blown it sky high with one of your nukes."

The Terran nodded and shook her hand in return before releasing the Turian's talon, "A pleasure to meet you Specter Verpine, I'm General Carl Jenkins, Military Intelligence, these," he indicated the black armored soldiers, "are my personal bodyguard. They don't talk too much. Anyways, me and everyone else on this rock agreed with you, shit like this is far too dangerous to be messing with, and as we have pieced together from the records of those who found it, this thing works fast whatever it does."

Looking at the soldiers behind General Jenkins she raised her claws slightly in the Human equivalent of an eyebrow raise, "So your bodyguards are black ops I take it?" She asked as she let Jenkins lead her to the command center.

"Technically they're permanent on loan agents from Special Operations, black ops is a whole different division than my ministry. They're Pathfinders from the Elite Guard Allocation Command in SpecOps. Normally Pathfinders are spread out under three different groups. But you didn't come here for a lesson in Terran Federation Military organization did you?" Carl said motioning for Illia to enter the command post first as he followed her followed by his guards as they waited for recompression and decontamination.

"You're a little more forthcoming than I expected from someone in Military Intelligence." The Specter noted.

"Nothing I revealed is really a secret. Besides the truth keeps you from asking the right questions." Jenkins commented and she could hear the smile in his voice. Looking out the window, splattered with some bluish looking blood that had yet to be cleaned with flecks of blue scales. Some kind of crude militaristic looking VTOL made its way onto the landing pad they were just at.

"And what are the right questions?" The Specter asked with amusement of her own as the door on the back of the craft lowered opened showing a heavily armed team of Terrans exiting with large cases of what she had to assume were explosives judging by the warning signs.

"I'll let you know when you think of them." Jenkins quipped as he left the airlock to the next one to talk with the pilots and crew, leaving the Specter with his bodyguards. When it recompressed the soldiers took a moment to look over their own gear and helped each other do so. She could feel the almost indiscernible sounds of them taking over the radio. She kept her composure and studied the VTOL.

'_Now that was a strange response_' The Specter noted, wondering what exactly the General had meant, looking back to the Pathfinders, she noted how almost all of them had a lens focused directly on her, "You don't trust me I see." They didn't speak, but she could feel their sight on her as they waited to be briefed on the situation properly.

The VTOL spent half an hour moving to the location of the previous doomed camp, and during that time she had been thoroughly briefed on what to expect, what she was to do, and events in which she would be considered Killed in Action or Missing in Action Presumed Dead. Right after that, the General had given as much information as fast as he could, he had to disappear to the forward cabin, before returning of the last few minutes of the flight, "I apologize for leaving you with such untalkative company. But some business my staff foresaw, showed up."

"Please clarify General." The Specter asked, confused by the last part of the statement, but the Terran deflected the question by asking one of his own.

"Tell me, do you have any idea who may be interested in the artifact we found?" Jenkins asked hitting a button on the wall that opened up the canopy so they could see out.

"Well besides the Shadow Broker, or maybe even Aria T'Loak, no one who knows what they're doing, or would know where the hell this place is, something like this is so infamously dangerous that most people wouldn't even touch with a ten meter pole." Illia responded after a moment's thought.

"Yes I agree, that's why I had it destroyed already." The Specter looked at Jenkins, confusion becoming comprehension.

"I knew my translator wasn't glitching out in our conversation back at the base. If that's true, then why did you have the council bring me here?"

"Why did I have it let slip we found this device to begin with? Simple, my sources told me someone wanted this tech, and if someone wanted this tech they are a threat to both your Citadel and my Federation, maybe not today but someday they will be. So I built a trap, a trap they have already sprung." Jenkins began to chuckle, "Just because we are relatively new, doesn't mean we aren't genre savvy ourselves. A find like this will give any enemies of ours waiting to pounce the perfect opportunity to give us an excuse, and with Intelligence giving an outward appearance of confusion and disorganization…. Well, let's just say the opportunity may have been too good for a few."

Starting to get that this Human was a self professed master of deception, and counter intelligence, the Specter asked, "I'm going to assume you're not going to tell me about these sources of yours, so what's today's prey?"

"Good assumption for the former. As for today's prey, three Batarian pirate ships have just entered the system, my ships, whose numbers seem dreadfully low for such a mighty task as defending a planet, are under orders to destroy one and damage another, forcing it to retreat or surrender. The third craft will no doubt attack the camp site where we will ambush them and find out who sent them. With the information on their backers, you can go deal with them and make sure this threat never arises again, and cause dreadful embarrassment to the Council. Oh and to show my appreciate at your endeavours and assistance, I will send some pathfinders along for the trip just to make sure you aren't short on the firepower you need."

"And what if I say I work alone?" Illia replied, folding her arms. The craft landed at the base, and the back door lowered revealing several Terran soldiers that looked more like extremely well armed mercenaries than Federal troops, manning several metal walls that had been built around the camp. They gave an appearance of looking bored and unprepared.

"There's always a first for everything, and I need to make sure I send a few bits of mail to some friends on the Citadel anyways, just think of them as… Temporary companions." Jenkins said, walking out the back of the craft picking up a fearsome looking weapon fit for blowing apart Krogan, and a weapon only a krogan would be comfortable lugging around on any normal gravity worlds. He then looked over at the Spectre and flashed a smile, "Boys, play The Wanderer, by Dion. I hope you don't mind if I play some music fit to take care of these scum bags?"

The pathfinder next to her sighed as he pulled out a small speaker and a jaunty tune began to play from the base speakers. "You get used to him after a while, despite his quirks." That was the first time one of the Pathfinders spoke to her.

Shaking her head at the silliness Jenkins treated impending combat, the Spectre nodded as she prepared her own rifle, and asked, "So what's stopping me from not telling the Councilors that you lied the moment I get on a shuttle home?"

"Nothing. But this was mostly done for politeness sakes. We can't know everything for sure after all. The sources weren't clear on the whys and hows and whos, even what's. If they were I would not need to make a trap. Speaking of, here they come!" He pointed up as the Batarian vessel entered the atmosphere and rushed across the desert plane toward the camp site. "Here they come boys and girls! GET READY! For the Federation!" Yowling out alongside the more undisciplined mercenaries they collectively cheered as they sought out cover.

"Yeah! Let's give them a good ol' taste of the Ape Makers!" One of the mercenaries psyched himself and those around him, carrying one of those over sized rifles Jenkins had grabbed, as a missile came out of the dunes beneath the frigate sized craft, and smashed into the rear engines. The ship lost it's lift and quickly smashed into the grey sand, skidding along until it stopped within thirty meters of the camp.

"How did you know which way the ship would come from?" Illia asked, "Magic?"

"Not this time! I brought a full pathfinder company, not just the squad you've seen, so I had some troopers take some automated SAM sites and deploy them all around the base. No magic tricks there! Just simple preparation. As a bonus they can't escape now." As he spoke the pathfinders were moving toward the crashed ship, leaping from cover to cover, their weapons trained on all the doors.

As the Spectre watched, a group of Batarians suddenly rushed out a door, guns ready, they were butchered by the pathfinder and mercenary fire, almost half the squad seemed to be carrying light machine guns that were way too precise, and the other half carried rifles that would only be fit for Krogan to use. Another group, this one lead by a Krogan, tried their luck but met the same fate. The Krogan actually dropping dead from a few rounds to the brain pan, exploding his helmet and skull out so that his brains splattered everywhere. For good measure they then fired a hand flamer onto the body to counteract his blood rage and regeneration.

Before anymore morons could try their luck again, the pathfinders made their way inside, Illia could hear gunfire and screaming after that. Alongside the sounds of a lot of bones crunching and electrical discharges.

"They know they're supposed to get prisoner's right?" Illia asked, as the killing and violence continued.

"Yes, but to get the higher ups to surrender, you need to kill their underlings, make them afraid of death, they should demand for them to surrender soon, either motivated to save their own skin, or their crew's lives." The firing stopped not to long after that, and two pathfinders came out dragging what they could assume was the captain out, judging by the gold embroidery on his shoulders, "Or they could get lucky and just find him." He walked up to meet the pathfinders and their charge, so the Spectre followed.

"Hello, Captain, I assume?" Jenkins asked, looking down on the Batarian as he was shoved down into the grey sand, "You mind telling me who hired you, or are we going to have to dig it out?"

"Fuck you, you Human bastard, I won't talk," The Batarian spat at him both metaphorically and almost literally, since the Batarian almost forgot he was wearing a helmet.

"Your lucky I'm not a sadist, but you're unlucky that I don't care if you live or die. Specter Verpine, would you kindly enter the transport and see if you can access their ship files, while I pry the information out of my new friend?" Jenkins asked, "I don't want to show such barbarism to such a fine lady as yourself."

"Well you requested someone with tech skills. I assume your soldiers know I'm coming?" Illia asked.

"Oh, of course Specter Verpine." And with that Illia walked into the ship and as she did so she heard bloodcurdling screams come from the Batarian. She paid it no heed as she went in search of the command center.

Jenkins smiled as Verpine decided to give him some alone time. "Stand him up." He told the two flanking soldiers, who did as ordered and roughly held the Batarian up, "Now as fair warning, this is going to feel like the worst migraine you've ever felt in your life." Raising his hand and pointing the palm toward the Batarians head, the captain began to scream in bloodcurdling, soul wrenching pain. As more and more captured Batarians were escorted the transport they were inadvertently paraded past the captain with the General holding his palm to his head, seemingly doing nothing. The Batarian held his head, or tried to at least, and his four eyes looked around wildly in separate directions, his screaming turned to convulsing shudders of pain, and the Terran just stood there, seemingly not doing anything, "I can find it on my own, but feel free to shorten the process by screaming it out," The Terran General taunted, a bit of blood leaking from his nose, "And I'd be fast about it too, heads can sometimes explode when I have to tear into them like this. And we don't want to have your funeral a closed casket now."

"The buyer was a Turian by the name of Sindri! Pillars damned Sindri!" He screamed out, "He wanted this dropped off at Omega! We were paid in advance! That was where we were to take it!" The Batarian screamed, and Jenkins put his hand down, almost moving it to wipe away the blood before he realized that he was wearing a sealed helmet as well.

"Why does he want the artefact?" Jenkins asked the Batarian as he slumped on the ground, "If you give me a sufficient answer, I promise to treat your men like Prisoners of War, and not like the criminals you are. Criminals I might add, that would get a very swift death sentence."

"I-I-I don't know, oooohhh… I don't know, he's just a middleman for whoever is in charge that's all I know." The Batarian cried on the ground, his own olfactory nostrils bleeding. Jenkins actually pitied him. He hated doing this to people, no matter what species they were, but it was more than necessary. The Batarian continued mumbling, begging into the ground, "But- but- but! I -I can get you in contact with him, give him the artefact or a fake if you want and you can ambush him, if-if-if he learns that anyone but one of us tries to bring it in he'll go to ground and hide in Omega. Just please spare me and my crew."

Jenkins smiled inwardly, Looking to the two pathfinders he nodded, "Well then, POWs it is. Take him somewhere he can get medical treatment. And his men too. We need to make this authentic." Jenkins ordered the pathfinders who picked the Batarian up in a fireman's carry.

The Pathfinder actually struggled under the weight, "Damn he's heavier than I thought!" He complained, which got a chuckle from Jenkins.

Almost preternaturally he turned to the Specter and smiled as if nothing happened, despite the blood running down his nose, "Trade you my info for yours."

"I'm not a fan of cold blooded torture. I certainly don't want to feel what made those screams." Illia commented as she brought up her omni-tool and showed its data.

"Well, neither am I to be honest, but circumstances lead to such methods. Course he did get a good shot back at me as you can see. But his pain won't be physically permanent. Torture however leaves a psychological mark on both administrator and victim. It's not a tactic I use often, or condone." Jenkins explained as he stepped aside for the Spectre to pass."

"Why do I get the feeling you're playing a long game of some sort?" Spectre Verpine asked, sighing at the endless games of politicians.

All she received in return was a knowing smile.

**~[==|==]~**

**Palaven 2657 GS November /25/2329 AD**

General Desolas Arterius sat at his desk at Palavan Command, as he looked over the report from his science team stationed at the Temple. The theory about the place had always drawn his interest, even as a child. So when he had attained his rank, and a certain degree of autonomy, he had of course sent an expedition to the place. There had been expeditions before for hundreds of years, but no one had turned anything up, and at first it had been the same with his own scientists. But then one of them came up with some interesting theories, about how the Temple may have some kind of relation to some of the old tech rumored to be found throughout the galaxy that was considered too dangerous, and rightfully so, no one was immune from its horrifying effects.

But for the purposes of uncovering ancient Turian archeology for the Hierarchy, he found it was an interesting theory, enough so he had a few of his subordinates put contracts, info bounties, and feelers for such an object. He had hoped he would find one during that little skirmish with the Terrans, exploration often resulted in uncovering lost things buried deep below the ground, but that was not to be. This time.

Well at first it was, then one of his subordinates reported the Terrans had found what appeared to be one on their side of the border, said subordinate had already dispatched a pirate raid led by three reliable captains to retrieve the device, with any luck it would be here by the end of the week. And then he could see if the theories about the next step in Turian evolution were true.

But he felt it risky, while he admired initiative when it was appropriate, Sindri had jumped the gun. It would have been more prudent to petition the Council and ask the Terran's for an equal trade. After all it was essentially worthless to them anyways, and the Turians had much to offer the new race in terms of Eezo tech and military assistance since they were so new and wary from war.

**~[==|==]~**

**Shanxi City, Shanxi, Relay 314 system 2657 GS November /25/2329 AD**

Jack Harper coughed as he waited outside the Special Services office. He had been ready to get back on with his life after the latest weird event he got himself tangled in, but he had been called here instead. Which was freaking him out just a bit, he wasn't a fan of talking to military intelligence on a good day, but psychs even less so. Throw in that this was General Carl Leroy "Fucking" Jenkins, Minister of Paranormal Warfare and good friend to THE Juan Rico, and you had a recipe for putting a person on edge.

Jack was about to pull out a cigarette to calm his nerves when the secretary finally spoke, "The general will see you now." Standing up with an unlit cigarette in his mouth, complaining in his head, he walked over to the door, took a deep breath, and hoped to whatever power there was he was not about to get mind probed. Or worse. He opened the door and stepped inside to see the black uniformed General watching the sky outside his window. God this was so cliche.

"Jack Harper, Service number MS00123958374, former posting to 2nd Army Corp, 20th Division, 7th Brigade, 1st Regiment, 10th Company, also known as Garcia's Gators Cap Troopers. Retired voluntarily after four years of service with most of your company, when Garcia fell in the line of duty, your record says you were very good at fighting Skinnie, I especially liked when you started a civil war in the Cabal of Salambo. Such ingenuity comes only naturally." The General reported, turning around holding a datapad in his hand, "Starting that civil war stopped raiding in ten systems for a whole year. Tell me, is this you?"

Jack knew better than to lie to a mind reader, not to mention one who literally HELD his service record, so he told the truth, "For the most part, there is one lie in there, Ben Hislop was actually the catalyst to the civil war when he accidently killed the Skinnie Cabalite with a shock stick during interrogation. I mean accidently too, we weren't using the thing. We freaked out and did our best to cover it up, we just got lucky the Skinnies were already pissed off at the cabal and their mind controlling ways. Probably would have given us a medal too before trying to kill us."

"Honesty is a good trait to have Mister Harper, but that raises one more question, would you have told me that if I couldn't tell you were lying?" General Jenkins asked, putting the pad down on his desk and looking at Jack thoughtfully.

"No Sir. I would have kept the lie going. The entire incident was embarrassing enough without getting our squad pulled apart by a weapons infraction resulting in death." Jack didn't know what to expect, but a smile was not it.

"Tell me Mister Harper Do you know why **I** ended up Minister of Paranormal Warfare?"

"I heard you fucked up, and nearly got a planet invaded with bugs. So they took you off the front lines and threw a desk at you." He replied automatically, wincing internally at being forced to be so tactless when speaking to a General. Desk throwing was considered foul language. Hit too close to home for most officers who'd rather lead.

"All true. I thought I could control the bugs, even caught a queen to attempt it, and I got further than the government was willing to let out, which is why they didn't execute me on the spot. So they transferred me to take command of the clairvoyants, the people who can get a glimpse of the future, one of those glimpses is what brought me to that hell hole of a moon with that artefact, but another one is what brought you here to this office." General Jenkins explained a bit more upbeat than he would have liked.

"Sir?"

"Your efforts here on Shanxi and handling of the artefact show you are still loyal enough to fight for the Federation, if only with a bit of encouragement. Why are you not still in the Mobile Infantry?" There was the question Jack had been asking himself on and off for years.

Jack had to think about that a bit, "I just wanted to be the captain of my own ship as it were, I know I could have tried to go career and get the same effect but the pay is better and I can choose my own people to work with." Which included just about the rest of his company from his service days. They all had more loyalty to him than a new officer, and he offered good pay for a job they already knew how to do.

Jenkins had a very unnerving smile, "And what if I were to offer you a bigger 'ship' outside official Federal Government organization? With a bigger paycheque and with full autonomy, except one mandate, and one mission."

"I would ask what that mandate and mission is." Jack asked carefully.

"To protect the Federation from herself." Jack looked at the General confused, but before he had the chance to ask, he continue, "One of my clairvoyants saw and continues to see what he called the single most massive threat that would cause the downfall of the Federation, and it was not an external threat. He said the Terran Federation would fall to a threat of her own making, a scary thought. But not uncommon in Human history. Even worse however, is the fact that he says the Federation alone will not be able to handle this threat, there are few things the Federation can not handle. If I had to hazard a guess it would be the Black Cross or the Zegma Cartel, or god forbid another rebellion with even greater popular support than before. Or perhaps it would be one of our wild experiments, the options are many and mutating every day. However, thankfully the answers are simple. To stop or undo the damage done, we need a man outside official Federation control and organization, an illusive shadow who's not afraid to stand over the shoulders of our leaders and tell them when they are wrong, or get has hands dirty and find out what's going on in the Terran Underworld, I think you could be that man. If you're interested of course." General Jenkins explained, what he was describing could be construed to some as treason.

Jack had to think about it a bit longer, "But isn't this what the Federal Overview Board is supposed to do? To ensure freedom from corruption and self destructive ambition?"

General Jenkins sighed sadly, "Yes, but they are also visible, those with more complex and nefarious plans find it easy to avoid the watchful eye of FOB and Internal Investigations. And indeed I fear that they have their own clairvoyants and many in their pockets or unwittingly or unknowingly serving them. What I ask of you, is not to build and create an organization loyal to just you or the Federation, but loyal to the Federation's PEOPLE. Civilian and Citizen. To keep this goal clear, you will have to remain small and connected to the average joe. But you know the saying, one man in the right place at the right time can make all the difference."

Jack paused. This burden, this responsibility was back breaking, and this organization would likely not survive him. This kind of power to have the literal authority to shape the Federation as it saw fit to this degree was a power that could never be left in even a group of well intentioned hands.

Looking to General Jenkins he nodded, "On one condition…"

**~[==|==]~**

Terran Gunsmith's Extraordinaire Codex edition, Volume 1:

Morita 202-SL Smart Long Rifle "Tanker Killer" "Bolter": Sniper version of the 202-SA, given only to the best of the best of marksmen. Able to take down multiple bugs in one shot, and even the feared King Tanker if one is accurate enough, it's weight is problematic since it weighs as much as the old 201, but its firepower is deemed well worth the weight. It achieves this force through the use of specialised overcharged bullets, further accelerated by magnetic accelerators, and firing Gyroscopic rockets a second after the bullet leaves the muzzle. The tip is typically made of high explosive, and once it pierces the outer layer of armor, chitin, or shields, it will explode within the target.

Units produced: ~1,000,000 (1 Million)

Morita 201-A Assault Rifle "Ape Maker": While effective against humanoid or psychologically affected targets, the weapon was initially ill suited for fighting the bugs. The heavy ammo and weapon, bulky size, and insufficient stopping power was made up for its availability, ease of use, and modability with underslung attachments ensuring its continued use despite its flaws, and in experienced hands of veteran or even properly trained soldiers, they can make these flaws into non issues or advantages. The general production and issuing of this rifles spawned the term apes for the first time, mainly because you'd have to be as strong as a primate to even hold one for a few minutes, and indeed how veteran a soldier is can be determined by how large their biceps are.

Units produced: ~100,000,000,000 (100 Billion)

Author note

Guest chapter 17 . Dec 24

Why doesn't the Federation just wipe out the coventry? Complete genocide if their arrogant race?

**L4 Coven and Stealth Battleships**

**Lord foul: mostly because they won't just roll over and let us. they have psychic powers and aren't exactly slouches in other areas either.**

**TimedRaven: Because they are a very advanced and powerful organization, that while unable to conquer the Federation the Federation is equally incapable of doing it back. They are also in the middle of a two front war, are now talking with the Citadel Council, and don't really gain anything from wiping out the Coven just yet.**

lordkalel chapter 17 . Dec 25

I wonder when The Asari are going to meet the Coven?

**L4 someday**

**Lord foul: I'm gleefully awaiting it myself, especially for asari like morrith **

**TimedRaven: It's unlikely the Asari government itself would meet them, they are simply too far away in SST terms. But Asari mercenaries or Asari Foreign Legion soldiers? That will be interesting.**

Axcel chapter 1 . Dec 25

Good first chapter! Though, I do disagree with the distance the Mass Relay propelled the ship that first went through it. Waaaay too short a distance.

If that ship only traveled a hundred lightyears with the Mass Relay, and the galaxy map for traveling through mass relays in the games shows the relays thousands or tens of thousands of lightyears away from each other, and that mere hundred lightyears is four weeks by Federation FTL, then Federation space would have very few planets and only Earth would support life. The sheer time to travel would make problems with trade and the bugs would have easily dominated the Federation due to the military's slow travel time.

It makes no sense.

**L4 ah that galaxy maps only shows primary relays i think but who knows**

**Lord foul: there are two types of relays (not counting the special snowflake ones like the Citadel, alpha, and omega relays ) primary and secondary.**

**TimedRaven: Primary Relays go something like 1,000 light years, secondary like half or less than that. Keep in mind the Federation have their own independent FTL, and while it's fast, there's only so much space you can colonize and claim. For an example, look at the Batarians trying to colonize the ENTIRE Skylian Verge on their own, they were in the process of it for something like 60 years, and still had many habitable worlds unpopulated. **

Axcel chapter 16 . Dec 25

Ollanius Pius!? YEEEESSS! That ship is therefore the most epicly badass ship ever made, even if were to be killed as easily as a Red Shirt.

**L4 RAVEN!**

**Lord foul: oh that raven (canned laughter plays)**

**TimedRaven: Another cookie if you can spot my reference in this chapter as well!**

Axcel chapter 16 . Dec 25

I actually have two accounts, but I don't remember the login and pass for the Axcel (pretty sure I spelled it differently for the account) and I keep forgetting to login with the other (247 Rampant Bias). I'll try to remember to login (hopefully I haven't forgotten that login, too).

Glad you thought my comments were interesting. :D

**L4 ah alright **

Axcel chapter 16 . Dec 25

Blood Raven

About frigate weapons, I don't remember where, I think the wiki description has changed. Though, I read this when Mass Effect was still new. I distinctly remember it saying that Frigates strafe enemy ships with their GUARDIAN lasers in wolf packs. Now, it says that the wolf packs strafe targets whose barriers have been dropped by fighter-launched disruptor torpedoes.

It no longer specifically states GUARDIAN lasers are what is being used to strafe with. In fact, it states that knife-fight range is rare whereas it previously stated that frigates fight by closing to knife-fight range and attacking with their GUARDIAN lasers (which was ultra-retarded as it also stated at the time that GUARDIAN range is a mere ten freaking kilometers. In SPACE!). Perhaps a ret-con. I don't know if the novels reflect such a change, though, as I have only read one of them (the prequel).

**Lord foul: I just went and reread the codex and I'm pretty sure that's off, and even if it were accurate it varies based on frequency used. the systems alliance used infrared, which has short range and damage but easy to maintain equipment. the salarians and geth use ultraviolet which is quoted at having six times as much distance and damage, but more finicky, expensive and fragile equipment. **

**Larger ships likely also have a longer range simply from having more power at their disposal.**

**The massive geth dreadnought in ME3 was able to carve through multiple ships with its lasers, and I don't think a 60 km range would let it do that **

**Further the Human frigate Iwo Jima was able to take out an armored land vehicle from the atmosphere on a Batarian world, so there's that **

**in any case, even if it somehow had such a crappy range as 10 km it would still serve its other purpose at anti projectile defence.**

**TimedRaven: Couldn't have said it better myself. Keep in mind i'm sure the Citadel aligned worlds have frigates and corvettes kitted out with nothing but GUARDIANs for missile and fighter defense.**

Poliamida chapter 17 . Dec 26

Well, if there's something this chapter taught me, is that there are far more ways to say "smoke" that I originally thought. I wrote some down for further reference.

Fun chapter, i can't wait for more!

**TimedRaven: And all without using a Thesaursus! I knew writing on a roleplay forum for half my life was a good idea!**

**Lord foul: glad you like it.**

CBase chapter 17 . Dec 26

I want a xenocide and i want it soon!

Goodyear fic

**L4: be careful what you wish for **

**Lord foul: I don't think that's what this fic is about (though I'm not sure what you mean by "goodyear fic"**

**TimedRaven: You'll get it eventually. You'll probably not like who it's against however.**

Cap'n Chryssalid chapter 17 . 4h ago

Quite an enjoyable story. I found it on spacebattles, originally, before switching over to the version here. I'll tag it with a follow as well.

You don't see many Starship Troopers fanfics to begin with, much less ones that take an actual cohesive narrative rather than "timeline stories" - which I usually hardly consider stories at all. I was very happy then to find this. The exotic and uncommon setting combined with ME means it is hard to predict how or what will happen, and again, that is only a good thing. Here's hoping the southern front rallies and we get to see a full Terran-Turian allied push into the Skinnie Hegemony. It'll go a long way to opening up all kinds of other interactions in ME space as well as giving us more Terran and Turian cross-culture fun. It is very rare - almost unheard of - to find ME-crossovers where Humans and Turians are actually on good terms or relate in a positive way (rather than as outright rivals or the like). They have so much more in common here than in most any other crossover.

**L4: holy beep it cap'n *head explodes***

**Lord foul: ah no! put your head contents back where they belong (carefully hides shotgun)**

**TimedRaven: Wow I don't think me and L4 would have ever gotten such high praise from someone like you Cap'n. You put a great deal on our shoulders for better quality control!**


	19. Chapter 15 Book one

Chapter 15

Terran federation News Network

Federation Pushing Forward

After the Stellar victory over the planet of Cassandra, federation forces are in the process of reconnecting with the forces that were separated during the skinnie blitz in the last few months, and although several border worlds fell, their populations taken away into the hegemony, Federation authorities affirm that the hegemony will either return those stolen, or pay in blood for their crimes. And with our new allies, things look good; the Turian's doctrine in counter guerilla warfare, from their decades experience in taking on pirates just like these, has won over hearts and minds as they have freed tens of thousands of people. Cleaning up the Skinny in Federation territory in the southern regions, leaving our boys and girls free to prepare for the coming campaign into the hegemony. And with the establishment of diplomatic ties of the Free Libertatum League, we now have allies inside the hegemony that can help support our campaign.

It seems the latest chapter in the interstellar wars is about to come to a close, and things are looking better than ever for the Federation.

Would you like to know more? **Continue.**

Fighting on Zion

Fighting on the Mormon planet of Zion, has reached a fever pitch, as the Federation deploys ever more troopers to quell the skinny forces. Zion, which originally held out against the skinnie attack with their own planetary militia, acquiesced to allow Federation boots on the ground, when the second wave of skinnies was led by a traitorous Terran going by the name of "Death Blade", a name most likely acquired in the gladiatorial arena, arrived on planet. The human arrived with his own army of "skinniest", or Skinny indoctrinated humans, and has led a brutal campaign that has killed tens of thousands on the planet, civilian and soldier alike. The Zion government has officially invited Federal forces in hopes of bringing an end to the fighting, but radicals in their military seized control of several cities and have begun fighting Federation forces, believing Federal forces arrived to force the planet under Federation control. Until the mistake can be sorted out, Federation forces have elected to avoid confrontation and has focused on forcing the skinny out of the countryside and suburbs.

The flat pasture land and farms make it excellent territory for armoured warfare, and newly designed tanks have begun to appear on the Federation side, taking up the old mantle of Panzer Warfare from the 21st Century after decades of fighting bugs.

However, the miscommunication between radicals, and Federation commanders has resulted in dozens of deaths, and a revamp of communication protocols.

Would you like to know more? **Continue.**

The Battle of Shanxi Redux

It has been seven months since the Federation retook Shanxi, and to honor the memory of those lost, we bring raw footage from that battle. This was filmed from Fednet Reporter-Private Ailis Pedersen right after her drop-

Tel'Rock stopped the fednet broadcast as he saw his long time friend gunned down like a common soldier, seeing the look of surprise on his face before outrage and fear, pain and then death overtook him. Tears of sadness falling down his face he screamed out in a rage, smashing his glass against the wall. "Change the bounty to include that bitch's name and face! And double the amount!" He ordered the commander who had found these images.

Regaining his calm, he slumped into his seat, "Thank you for showing me this. You will be rewarded at a later time when I can find something suitable to give..."

**Tesla'Vir 2657 GS November /24/2329 AD**

Tesel Modri sighed as she wrote a ticket up, and placed in on the window of the hover car, "Can't believe people are this stupid." She griped, looking again at how the driver had parked halfway on the sidewalk. She knew she should get back on patrol, but perhaps the driver was drunk, and foolish enough to drive manually, it would be no good to let them go driving with her ticket on their window. Gently scratching her head crest, she sat down on the edge of the car and waited.

She sighed as she looked up at the sky, Tesla'Vir was a nice quiet place, on the border of the Skyllian Verge. But there really was not much going on here, even devoid of the occasional raid, being too far out of the way, and of too little importance to raid or bother, while still being close enough politically to get the defense they needed in case some four eyed species got a little too greedy.

There had even been talk a few months back about activating the relay in the system to see if it connected somewhere, hopefully with the newly found Fedration. Mainly by the Turian half of the colony, but the Asari half quashed that without mercy, not wanting this garden world possibly becoming a war zone. Frankly she was glad, this planet was too nice and civilized to be turned into a military outpost for some dumb Turian war. Although she shouldn't be mean like that. After all, the Turians had been responsible enough to increase their garrisons in the border worlds that had relays pointing in the direction of the Federal Zone. Just in case.

Looking up at the night sky, she thought there were more lights than normal, at first she shrugged it off thinking a major convoy of ships had come by to restock. Then one of the lights fired a glittering strand of light that destroyed another. She looked up at the sky much more attentively as she slowly had it dawn on her, "Oh…. Oh fuck." As she jumped to her feet, she saw more explosions in the sky followed quickly by her radio declaring emergency martial law and lockdown. Then the colonies warning sirens started blaring.

"The Goddess is going on?" She exclaimed in horror, before she regained her faculties and ran with the crowds of people to the emergency bunkers and the Garrison stations. Hearing voices in the crowd directing them, distinctly Turian voices, she started to join the growing ranks of the defenders.

Colonel Mar'rack watched the fleet of unknown ships be burn or boarded, most likely merchant and civilian vessels. As most, if not all, didn't have powerful enough weapons to do any damage to his fleet. After the disaster at Cassandra, the hegemony council had threatened to pull support from Tel'Rock, despite its loss being far from his control, and he had just barely held on thanks to the untimely death of a few of the council leaders. It was a clumsy and foolish move, but it had worked for now, Mar'rack had no doubts that his lord would pay for it in time. Petolemaics did not let grudges lie.

In order to survive and gather support, he launched this new campaign in a hurry, this rabble of a fleet Mar'rack had been put in charge of. He could lead anything to victory but this, this was going to be a problem, the new offensive was a migration wave, which has helped improve his number of ships, and would allow him an increased ability to settle a world and hunker down. However the majority of his military forces was a joke, he could count on what was left of his soldiers from Shanxi, and miscellaneous raiders from all over the hegemony. What he could not count on, was the mass wave of refugees who had been kicked off their home worlds by the stronger tribes and kingdoms. They were waiting on the other side of the relay, and as soon as he gave the all clear, they would come through. Most would stop at this world to help in the attack, but only to gather loot and slaves before scattering to the winds, the others would go straight for the scatter, creating pockets of their civilization throughout this area of space.

This attack was a stop gap, and would only be helpful for the war if this system had any relations to the Turians. Which was fairly unlikely. Another problem was he had hoped that the system the device dumped them in would have been abandoned. That way he could approach and attack surrounding shipping and colonies and decide on a weak world to attack immediately on his own terms. But it was just their luck that they would be put in front of an inhabited world, which could relay that they had come. So in order for his strategic goal to succeed, he had to silence them before help could arrive, then deactivate the device and scatter until the attack blew over.

Groaning in annoyance he covered up his fatigue. This just made his comparatively cushy job a hell of a lot harder. He had no idea on how long it would take the Turians or local authorities to arrive, for them to get word, or even something as simple as how many lived on the colony and their number of troops. He was tempted to just wipe out the colony from orbit and then leave as soon as possible. Which was his plan as soon a he saw a hint of any enemy fleet, or dedicated resistance.

Taking a breath to calm himself, he looked down toward the planet and the lights of the city wondering if this was a wise move at all.

"Colonel." The captain of his Ship, Ty'lon, called as he came up behind him, "We have cleared the skies and have confirmed Turian designed ships were here."

Knowing it was his turn to take part in this joke of an offensive he nodded, "Begin landings and send word back to the Migration Wave, they may begin landings as well. Bombard any AA batteries or places of focused resistance. At the barest hint of enemy reinforcements, call me, we must be ready to retreat at a moment's notice. Inform the ground troops there will be no waiting for them if they fail to escape in time."

Tesel Modri held on to her rifle with a death grip, she never thought she would ever have to use one, she was rated on it of course, but she was much more competent with a pistol. So when the siege of the police station had begun, she had been holding it like it was a snake. Now she still didn't like it, but it was better than her pistol when it came to getting though the suits of the new aliens. These aliens were never encountered, and she had never heard of them, but her visor hud had identified them as "Petols", or "Skin-neys", whatever that word meant.

They had landed about six hours ago in numbers to rival the population of the colony, and since then, more and more shuttles were increasing that number, by the minute. The Skinnys wore for the most part, suits made from some ballistic fiber or another preventing much of the small arms fire that was shot at them from doing much if it did any damage. They had swept through the city and surrounding suburbs, attacking defender and civilians alike using some kind of weird rifle that shot blue goo and constricted people to capture those who did not outright surrender, and looting everything they saw. Thankfully they really liked to loot it seemed, as they did it with glee and it had slowed their curb stomp to a crawl. They were literally taking everything that seemed to be worth at least something.

It was utter anarchy throughout the city, and fires burn uncontrolled to add smoke to the confusion. She had done her best wherever she ended up, but she wasn't a soldier, and this, this was nothing she had ever been prepared for. Or equipped for, she was still wearing her patrol uniform with hardly a hardsuit to go around, as if that would be enough against those rifles.

Taking a breath she peaked out through the precinct's window. She and some other cops, with some civilians, had been cut off from the main body of resistance and had held up here, thankfully the looters who were scouring the city seemed less interested in a fight, so even though they were behind enemy lines they were not under constant attack. As she watched some skinny drive by in a hover car, loaded with anything and everything that looked valuable… wait wasn't that the hover car she ticketed? Looking closely at the hood she nearly laughed. It was. 

"Tesel," one of the other cops, a Turian by the name of Guthe called, "they looking at this place yet?"

"No, they're more interested stealing from the stores behind us, I feel like we're in a riot and not a war zone." She stated.

"If only, then we would probably have no trouble quarantining this thing, but more than enough of them are real soldiers." Her Turian Police sergeant, Sergeant Kennam, commented from the table he was laying on, as one of the medics they had picked up did his level best to patch him up from a wound sustained by a "real soldier", "I'd bet a hundred credits these are either the rear echelon, or organized looting teams by the enemy. Hence why they don't attack us on sight."

"Do you think a message about what's going on here got out to the citadel?" Officer Chillum, a Salarian expat, asked the sergeant.

"Of course, even complete silence will tip them off once it reaches them. But the real question is how long until they get here, and what level of force they will bring. And who else will hear of what's going on before they arrive? It may get a lot worse before it gets better." The sergeant said, grunting in pain as the medic did his best to put his side back together.

"What do you mean by others hearing? Anyone who comes will help us right!?" Tesel asked, looking out the window as she saw another ship leaving orbit, trying not to think about what was inside it's hold, 'Slaves and loot' popped into her head so she told it to shut up.

"There's a lot of factions out in the terminus systems that would see this as a great opportunity to raid us, a relief fleet a few days away, get it while the getting's good pops into mind, from everything between a warlord to a petty pirate leader. Most would be smart enough to stay away and play it by ear, but there's always idiots who gain power, and more than a few who could conceivably take on that relief fleet, or unscrupulous to charge us for helping. But considering those explosions we heard earlier, I very much doubt they would arrive to anyone they could help. In a few days the cities will be stripped bare of civilians, and all of us dead or prisoner. They have the numbers and the firepower to destroy us in less than a day if they keep this up."

"You don't really think pirates would show up here? It sounds like a recipe for disaster." Guthe said, everyone else but the medic were too stuck in shock at the admittance of defeat to speak.

"I think when it rains it pours, so I won't put any disaster from not happening." Tesel shivered visibly. Once the sergeant was deemed fit to move, he sat up. "What the fuck are you all just sitting there for?!" He roared at them, making everyone jump, "We may have lost the battle, but we can still make a difference. What we have in our minds and bodies is the ability to make an even greater victory, surviving this fight. And bring the intelligence we can to the military. Like who attacked us, from where, and how they did so! Now mount up, we're moving out in five minutes get anything we can use, but travel light."

"But sir! Where will we go? We have nothing and we know of nowhere that's safe!" An Asari civilian said in dismay,

"You're wrong! We have an objective: Survive. We have the means: Us. And we have a destination: My house." Everyone looked up at that, if only to scoff for some, "I got an underground panic room, enough supplies to last a few years for all of us, and an emergency escape hatch that leads to the city's service tunnels and out towards the woods. If we make it after a few stops at vital locations on the way, we will be secure. Now it won't be easy, I know this, but I know that we can all make it if we work together and don't lose hope," The sergeant told them all, giving a wink of hope in all the despair.

"But- but you just said-"

"I know what I said, but we can survive this, free of slavery. Follow me and you will survive. I guarantee it…"

**Citadel station 2657 GS December /1st/2329 AD **

The councilors looked in horror at the information they were seeing. What was coming out of the Tesla'Vir system was a very garbled distress signal, but one thing was clear, it was under a full scale assault. What was less clear was who was doing the assault, since no ship had escaped and the comm buoy system in the region had been annihilated in minutes before a more understandable signal was released. "Did some Pirate band decide to attack?" Tevos asked to her fellow councilors in confusion, looking at Salarian Councilor Cenike for answers.

But the most horrifying thing was Councilor Cenike looked antsy, "No... the STG would have at least heard a rumor for an attack force this large, someone can't just hide a fleet this large after all, and beyond that, we have no agents on planet, so we have no intelligence on what is occurring." That statement terrified Tevos more than anything she ever heard before. She could always count on her Salarian counterparts having an idea, and it was always comforting in a way.

"It must be the Skinnies." Gallius said from where he sat.

"What makes you jump to that conclusion Gallius?" Cenike asked curiously.

Gallius sat up and played a garbled segment of the recording, "Oh Goddess! The entire System Defense Force is GONE! It looks like yellow lines just connected with them and…" Indecipherable static began to be cleared up in a few seconds, "... Repeat, it must be some kind of laser fire… Oh fuck! Incoming orbita-"

The Message ended sharply after that, Gallius looked up to the others, "Reports of yellow lasers, they match the skinnies energy weapons profile, and the relay in that system has been estimated to lead into the Human Federal Zone." Gallius commented as he sat back in his chair, looking grim.

"Of course it's possible that colony opened it themselves, they were considering opening that relay, some extremists or-" Tevos was cut off from hope.

Laughing humorlessly at Tevos, Gallius shook his head, "Despite the illogical nature of that, the idea was quashed by the local asari government. And even if they did so, do you truly lack the idea of basic military preparation? An attack like this was planned at the least, so either we are dealing with a new species who just thought to attack the colony randomly, not impossible, but incredibly unlikely, or the skinnies opened it. They saw us come through at Shanxi, probably figured out how to open them up on their own once they knew what they did, and what to look for." Gallius shook his head, "You know what that means, I assume?"

Cenike nodded, "Yes, they are becoming a danger to everyone, opening relays without consideration."

Gallius shook his head, "Partly, although I can presume the Skinnies aren't foolish enough to send just a lone scout vessel, if what we saw is true, they're willing to send an overwhelming fleet out. No, this means that they can double, triple, maybe even quadruple their territory and resources, and be permanently out of reach of our retaliation forces. Meaning their use of slave labor to extract the resources they discover won't particularly impact their population numbers as much. This is a strategic nightmare of unimaginable proportions, since even if we destroy them there, they will take it as a success and pour ever more resources into spreading even faster." That made both the councilors pale at the realization the Skinnies could conceivably rival the Citadel Council itself in worlds eventually if they continued to spread so quickly.

"Tevos I know you wanted to keep this little scuffle away from the larger galaxy, and wanted to keep the Federal Conflict small, but that was when the Terrans were a legitimate buffer for us, now we have no protection from the species in the Federal Zone, and if one of them could find a way to attack us-" It was his turn to be cut off.

"Gallius… Burn them out, the Citadel Council is officially at war with the Ptolemaic Hegemony, and all assets are to be used as such. Inform Ambassador Maghernus, I'm sure he wants to make good on his half of the deal."

**Citadel station, Zakera Ward, K-Drop NightClub 2657 GS December /1st/2329 AD **

Sitting in one of the VIP booths at the K-Drop, Maghernus was sharing the new club's experience with the Volus and Turian Ambassadors. He had also invited the Council, but they told him they had been busy with emergency issues.

Din Korlack, the Volus ambassador, had been talking with Maghernus about possible trade agreements and manufacturing deals, while the Turian Ambassador, Uliya Naxus, was merely here to observe Turian Human relations in the club.

"So Earth-Clan... why did you… Name the club K-Drop?" Din asked as Maghernus brought him his drink.

Smiling, Maghernus waved across the entire club, playing a mix of electronic Rock. Most of the patrons were human, but a few off duty Turian sailors and soldiers were mixed around with their newfound comrades at arms. He even thought he had seen an asari or two earlier. He had given a general order to the Terran garrison to play nice, and so far the humans were accepting enough of the Turians with a minimal of fights.

"Wasn't my idea actually. You see most of the Terran Garrison are Klendathu Veterans. Klendathu is the home world of our enemy, the Arachnids. Many of these men and women below you are those who were left behind after the horrific combat drop. They named it." Maghernus said mysteriously, as he took a sip of his beverage. "The K-Drop. They call it that ironically, every time they get up they face the horrors of what they saw, go outside and mingle with the aliens who they have done nothing but fight for a long time in their lives. Here they can relive the excitement of the combat drop, and after their moment of excitement, they go back to Klendathu, the unknown, the fresh hell. Or in this case, the Citadel."

Din thought about that for a moment, slurping up his drink from a tube, while Naxus walked over, "Are all humans warrior poets?" Naxus chuckled out as he noticeably bumped his head up and down with the beat. The song was speaking a terran dialect known as German, and the song was not auto translated. It kept its mystique and charm when a non native speaker couldn't translate it with the song, and lose the tempo and rhythm.

"Not at all. But when you're on a hell hole for a decade or so, you tend to find humor where you can." Maghernus chuckled as they all toasted to the K-Drop. "I'm happy to see your boys getting along well with mine." Maghernus said as he looked down to the club's dance floor, where the Humans and Turians were dancing together.

"Indeed, I think the corresponding goals of both our governments have helped that, and the welcoming atmosphere we have made for you." They both got a laugh at that, a little joke that the Klendathu vets had, was when they first arrived at least they could breath the air without dying slowly of suffocation.

Like a lightswitch however, the mood in the club froze. The Turians and other aliens in the club paused as they saw all the humans looking at various data pads or electronic devices, and then started to hurriedly leave the club. "Maghernus-" Naxus started but then he saw the Human looking extremely pale at his own omni-tool.

"The skinnies just attacked a Asari-Turian colony." He said grimly, before turning on his heel and leaving the club with the mass of humans.

**Tesla'Vir 2657 GS December /4/2329 AD **

Dahlia Dantius watched the cold blackness of space as her ship FTLed past the Petolemaic patrols. '_I can't believe these fools have sensors this bad._' She mused to herself. Word had gotten out about what had happened here, and like any self respecting pirate, Dahlia wanted in on the looting.

So she marshaled her crew and let a few comrades in piracy know about her plans, and so far they had been lucky. For the past two days they had been running the blockade the Petolemaics had set up, and been stealing anything and anyone they could. They had mostly stayed out of the aliens' way, who were too busy trying to finish off what was left of the Citadel forces. But they had caught a few unprepared groups who had appeared to have been trying to set up farms in the country side of the planet. Dumb fucks, they would have been wiped out from orbit by the Turian counter attack if she didn't kill them first.

When they did that the first time, she was sure the Aliens would come down hard on their ships, and try and stop there raiding. But the aliens had ignored them for the most part if they weren't on the way to their destination. After the third group had been taken and some alien tech added to their own arsenal, she had realized the guy in charge didn't care. His ship stayed in geocentric orbit with the capital, and the numbers of alien ships in orbit was less and less with each run she made.

It was about this time she realized that most of these aliens were no better than her own crew and friends. She had decided that once the citadel was done with whoever the fuck these aliens were she was going to check out whatever was left, might be a great place to get crew and resources.

"Captain, we're through the patrol zone. Where should we set course for?" Her first mate asked her.

"Hmm haven't been to Mesophania in a while, let's drop off our goods there."

**Tesla'Vir 2657 GS December /6/2329 AD **

Mar'rack looked over the latest reports from the surface, there was not much left to wipe out, a few holdout units, some stubborn fighters, and most like people who had found good hiding spots, but besides that the world was cleaned of easy to get resources. They had some problems the last few days with local bandits, who saw an opportunity to get their hands on the loot, and at first he had let them do as they will, since they were wisely not picking a fight with his forces, but things had gotten more troubling. So he was considering what to do about them.

In all reality, he saw these bandits as a way to help his own forces. They most likely made terrible soldiers, but they could give him great Intel and tech from the citadel, the problem was trying to talk to them, he doubted they spoke terran or had a translation software. To add to that trouble a few of the ships had actively attacked them when they could. In all fairness it was a great idea but it was not something he could pull now, but in the future, well time does heal all wounds, it would give new and grand opportunities.

Anyways he had done his job here, there had been something like a hundred and fifty refugee vessels with his fleet at the start of the campaign, and another hundred raider ships with his personal fleet of two dreadnoughts, four Republic Cruisers, and a dozen Terran Corvettes. Now most of the refugees had left the system, with him threatening to destroy any clan who wished to use the planet below. They could not have any indication they were here for as long as possible. Still about forty elected to follow him to find another world, to help make a way station for his fleet. The rest of the raiders returned to the hegemony with vital combat telemetry and technology. It was time for him to leave this system and strike out on his long range mission. He did not want to face the Citadel forces until he had plenty of time to prepare his ships for combat with them.

"Sir!" A young petolemaic said as he rushed into his office, "Captain Ty'lon has asked for your on the bridge, a fleet of unknown ships have arrived in the system's edge."

'_That would be the citadel relief force._' Mar'rack thought, "Tell him I'm on my way, but to begin pulling out now."

"Sir but there still some of your soldiers down on the ground as well as the refugees." the young one asked.

"The ships and what we have learned here in our attack, is more important than those who must be left behind. We will send a warning to them of course to retreat, but we can not risk what few combat ships we have for them." They were going to need these ships to last for their campaign through the Citadel planets, and he was confident that he could evacuate most of his personal forces, the refuges could die for all he cared. "Oh, and destroy the primary cities on the planet, they're empty anyways. Best not leave anything for the enemy."

**Tesla'Vir 2657 GS December /6/2329 AD **

Captain Morgan took a long drag on his cigar, god how he missed them, letting it out as he looked out from the camera at a destroyed spaceport. "Looks like Fednet got something right." He muttered as his troopers moved down the corridors of the ship to their drop locations, many still wearing the old Raider armor they'd been issued before Klendathu, though they had a few units of power suits, exo suits, and marauders under his command. They weren't his old crew, they never served on Klendathu, but they had volunteered to help rebuild Blackburn's Raiders. He Straightened his long coat and the Blackburn strapped to his back, making sure the melted blade was not going to come loose.

Sitting on his own dropship with his command staff, he had a few Turians aboard it as well, "What did Fed-net get wrong?" Turian general Septimus Oraka asked, as he watched his own armored troopers move with the terran forces on the planet's surface. Both Captain Morgan and Oraka were coming down in the second wave. Since the Skinnies had destroyed the primary cities, they were fighting in the suburban areas and half destroyed ruins.

"The Media said that the famous Blackburn's Raiders were being reconstituted, and they haggard a guess that we were to be shipped to the South to fight. But because we were, you know, behind enemy lines, being essentially a POW for 7 years on Klendathu, gives you a lot of built up vacation days. Unfortunately, for us, they were fucking right in a wrong way! " He said, feeling his dropship land quite comfortably and open the drop doors. Raising his old single lens Snooper to his one good eye, to watch a battalion of armored transports move into the Capital's edge cautiously.

"Klendathu, I've heard that often, that was the arachnid's homeworld. They sound as mean as the Ranchi were, if not more so judging by the variety of bugs you must face." The turian said watching the troops.

"They're meaner than you can imagine, trust me when I say it. The so called second bug war may be over, but it will pick back up within a decade or two, their side wants to rule the universe, and my side has suffered too much pain at their hands to not want them wiped out of existence. Bastards likely wouldn't accept a peace treaty anyways." Morgan said, noting some skinny scrambling out of hiding and running away. The Turian point man almost ran after him, but his power suit partner just fired on the skinny, shooting him in the back.

"It's a trap." Morgan's Lieutenant betted to his Communications Officer. Oraka looked back disapproving to both Morgan and the Lieutenant.

The Turian soldier looked ready to argue, but he was shut down by his power suit partner as he lead a squad forward, and jumped up to the second floor of a nearby building, the skinny had been running past. As the Soldiers held onto the side of the wall, holding onto the ledge of the broken window, they all pulled up simultaneously, and fired long bursts into the room.

"Want to borrow my pair of snoopers? It will enlighten you to the truth." The Lieutenant offered to Oraka, who took the Pair of Binoculars and activated its main function, looking through one of the lenses, he saw the squad of power suits were firing into the building, at very skinny heat blobs, who fired back at the Powersuits.

The Squad pulled themselves into the building, and began to clear the floor professionally. While he didn't doubt the instincts of his soldiers, he had released a breath of relief, happy that they didn't embarrass all of the MI in front of the Cits, by shooting civilians, "But enough about my fucked up life," Morgan continued nonchalantly, as they all walked forward, "how about your fucked up life? You're in the military, I'm sure you got some horror stories that could try and turn my hair white." He commented as he brushed one of his grey brown locks back under his peaked cap.

"... I'm not exactly sure of that euphemism, but I'm pretty sure I haven't seen anything that will do that. But I do have a few stories, you know what a Krogan is right?" Oraka replied to Morgan, who nodded. He had seen some info on Fednet, heard stories the one time he got a ticket to the citadel, and even met a few of the real deal. Large, nasty, but not very intimidating once you've stared down your fifth bug charge, "Well I've been in charge of fighting campaigns against renegade Krogan warbands who think the rebellions are still going. It's a nasty business, as they were once heroes who stopped the Rachi. And they're nasty fighters, hard to put down. Thankfully they don't exactly got a lot of tanks at their disposal. Lost a lot of good soldiers fighting them."

"Yup, this job sucks sometimes." Morgan stated reaching into his long coat and pulled out some rum he kept for emergencies. He took a swing then offered some to the turian General.

"Thank you for the offer, but despite the unprofessionalism, drinking Levo designed alcohol has an increased effect on Dextro races. And I'd rather not be drinking while on duty anyways."

Morgan shrugged, "Well this isn't much of a fight, and not enough to get me drunk anyways. But I see your point, once we make camp, I owe you a drink."

**Tesla'Vir 2657 GS December /6/2329 AD **

Tesel shook her head clean of dust as another wave of laser fire tore into the upper floor of Kennam's home. The plan to use his panic room had worked, until about two days ago. Unfortunately his escape tunnel was collapsed when the orbital bombardment to destroy the cities began, rendering it nearly impossible to dig their way out that way. To make it worse, the Skinnies found the door to the panic room and thought it was a vault or some shit.

Thankfully Kennam was a paranoid one, and the door had held despite the Skinnies doing everything they could to open it, But it had gotten so bad that the new plan was, once they had stopped for the night, to reoccupy the house while the skinnys slept, and hold out in hopes of buying time or breaking out once more and escaping to another place. So for the past two days they had to fight a never ending siege. She hadn't slept in the last 24 hours, and even before then, her sleep had not been restful.

"Will these assholes give it a rest?" One of the soldiers who they picked up since they started their trek muttered. Sitting next to her against the wall, head hidden between his legs.

"I doubt it" Tesel countered, chewing on a piece of dehydrated ration bar, "mayb-"

"INCOMING! GET TO YOUR POSTS!" Kennam hollered from up stairs, in a sniper's nest.

Tesel didn't have time to speculate as she pulled herself up, and began to fire at the wave of figures charging forward, most of them didn't even look like the skinnys she'd seen before. They were shorter, with asari frames and skin. she'd almost think them terrans, if weren't working with the skinny, and the horrific and crude metal modifications giving them skinny horns and claws. She fired tight controlled bursts from her now worn rifle, but they kept coming, firing a mix of weapons, tearing the window still around her to shreds. Forcing her to cover and to move to the next window.

Her rifle had overheated thanks to battle damage it had received earlier, damaging the heat sink. So while it cooled for a while, she drew her service weapon and began to fire into the aliens trying to climb their way into the ground floor windows.

She would have kept fighting if she didn't suddenly feel something impact her back, feeling her kinetic barrier fall, and a pellet from the weapon tear apart her firing hand. She fell back in blinding pain, as a skinny like monster and two of it friends came through the stairwell behind her. Looking for help the soldier who had been with her had already fallen. She could hear other weapons fire from nearby rooms and upstairs but that was a cold comfort to her. She was on her own, she reached with her good hand and grabbed her gun aiming it at the leading enemy and shooting him in the face, causing a neat spray of grey matter to fly out.

The monster kicked her hand away, and reached down, grabbing her by the throat lifting her her into the air. It was the only then that she realized just how tall the monster was, her feat hovering off the ground.

Her only weapon left, her biotics, would do nothing in the state she was in, but put the creature off balance for a second, and allow her to do nothing but be killed by his buddies, "Damn, look at this waist we have to give the blue ones to Lord Ja'Ka. They look human enough to keep for ourselves." His friend laughed, as he started to take anything of value from the dead soldier.

Having trouble breathing, with his hand tightly wrapped around her throat, Tesel spat the words out, "Go. Fuck. Your. Self." the monster turned to her, smiling.

"Oh bonus! We don't even need to teach her our language!" He said happily.

She didn't have time to respond, as a massive shock wave rocked the house, sending everyone to the ground. Shaking her head clear of stars, she saw fire licking at the windows, and heard a barely used geiger counter app clicking on her omni-tool.

The Monster's friends were the first ones up, looking out the window in shock and terror then they both fell over heads non existent after being shot. "Jeremy! Fatihma!" The monster screamed, then the window exploded inward. Propelling the Monster and herself back to the ground. From Where the Window had once been, jumped in a soldier wearing fully sealed black and grey armor she had never seen before. Holding a huge assault rifle that looked fit for only a krogan.

"Kill 'em all! Let the devil sort them out!" The armored figure screamed out as she walked up to the Monster, and pinning him down with an armored boot, then fired her underslung shotgun, completely destroying the Monster's chest, his three limbs blown outwards in wild angles, coating a wide space with rich crimson blood and a sickening smell of shit and organs. Tesel looked up at her in fear, as she kneeled down next to her. The Terran was covered in red blood from the monster, But she gently picked up her arm, examining her what was left of it, before pulling out a vial of transparent goo, and dispensing the contents on the stump that was once her hand, she immediately felt a distinct lack of anything from that area as it went numb, goo hardened to stop the bleeding.

"Stay down, and wait for the all clear soldier!" The warrior told her, before standing and stalking into the next room.

The terran soldier breached the next room, and finding only a dying salarian, she went to work trying to patch him up as well. "Colonel, we got survivors here! Two so far, but there may be more, requesting Medical support!" Tesel could here the feminine voice yell from the next room over, as the Asari leaned herself against the wall and waited, pain all over, feeling like her stomach was trying to eat itself, and so exhausted she could barely keep her eyes open. She didn't want to think about how the radiation would affect her life span either.

Tesel was quietly having a nervous breakdown now, after just watching someone get blown apart into literal limbs. The Warrior stalked back into her room, Chillum her Salarian coworker, over the giants shoulders. Placing him down right next to Tesel, the Warrior removed her helmet as two more similarly clad Warriors hopped in behind her and began to clear the rest of the house. She had been imagining her to look no better than the monster with how brutal she'd been. However she looked goddess damn hot, as far as asari facial aesthetics were concerned. The short yellow top fur on her head, spiked out, presumably with gel but bent from the helmet, and golden eyes only adding to an exotic look. But it was the look on her face that allowed her to hand over her hand, if the terran was indeed a monster, she bore no ill will to her. And she would love to be ravaged by such a monster.

She lets out a weak and pained laugh at the absurdity of that thought in the context of all that had happened. Fuck this adrenaline high was awesome!

To be continued

HaywireEagle chapter 18 . Jan 3

Spectre not Specter. Special Tactics and REcon

**L4: DAMN DYSLEXIA! **

**Lord Foul: sorry, that's my job to fix, I'll try to do better.**

**Bloodraven117: Mine too. admittedly I knew in my heart I was doing it wrong, but I couldn't get the fucks to do it right. Sounds harsh but I run on a cycle of Immense inspiration to do shit, to a low points where I have to grind it out, no matter what it is. **

cv snowblind chapter 18 . Jan 3

oh gee whizz those federation people are shure to be the architects of their own destruction

**Lord foul: that's an interesting viewpoint, I'd like to know what you mean specifically, though I have a few ideas**

**Bloodraven117: You'll see, often, it's the enemy within that's more dangerous than the enemy outside.**

ThunderGod Stormbringer chapter 1 . Jan 3

There is only one book and source for Starship Troopers and thats the book written by Heinlein, anything else is NOT accepted

**L4: yes and no the CGI used the book heavily unlike the movies which did not use the book more than a coat of paint.**

**Lord foul: I prefer the book immensely, but I'm not going to pretend it didn't inspire other pieces of fiction.  
Bloodraven117: We also included bits from the movie, like Light Infantry, the failed invasion of Klendathu, a few characters, and the uniforms, mixed with a bit of the pseudo fascism that actually acted as a thought experiment.**

erdervv chapter 18 . Jan 3

I love the fact you decided to ditch that stupid relay 314 incident first contact, most crossover are just a repetition of that and then some kind of silly roflstomp (oh god the halo/me folder, can't unsee), and the council is actually acting smartly and not like half trained monkeys, you are setting the bar here guys, great work :)

**L4: THANK!**

**Lord foul: we try :)**

**Bloodraven117: Yup, I was happy to see that too. Here how L4 wrote it it made sense that the Turians would be chums with the Terrans instead. TnT Alliance for Life!**

Dinodude7 chapter 18 . Jan 4

I wonder when the batarian hegemony realizes that making an alliance, secret or otherwise, with an enemy of the federation will only come to gloriously bite them in their soon to be endangered asses?

**L4: probable 10 minute after get an example of anti skinnie tactics that were used in the book**

**Lord foul: give them some credit. half hour till they're steamrolled**

**Bloodraven117: Hence why the Advisor was like "Are you fucking stupid? Politically speaking it's a dumb idea, militarily speaking it's a dumb idea, lawfully speaking it's a dumb idea, and diplomatically speaking it's a dumb idea!" More on that, later.**

Poliamida chapter 18 . Jan 5

Hahaha, Leeroy!

Anyway, good chapter, I'm a bit sad to see Desolas yet again as the 'token bad guy' but Sindri's attitude might suggest there's something else going on.

By the way, am I the only one who didn't believe for a second that the Terrans had destroyed the artifact?

Keep it up!

**L4: That's a conspiracy theory **

**Lord foul: *whistles innocently***

**Bloodraven117: Give Carl some credit, he's not a moron, he listens to his clairvoyants and them telling him "This thing will turn you into a zombie" Is a pretty compelling argument to just get rid of it.**

**Also I am painting Desolas to be a misguided person, he never wanted to attack the Terrans because that was just plain dumb, after all they could have just as easily said, "Hey, you know that thing that seems to be just pain in the ass? Here's some reputable technology in exchange for it so we can test it and dispose of it when we are done, if you want to you can watch." Since he has nothing to hide and the whole thing seems to be a test for him anyways.**

**Lord Foul: "not a moron" we are still talking about the guy who (briefly) used his telepathy on a brain bug for dramatic effect right?**

The Darkness Writhes chapter 18 . 18m ago

Great story you have here I found it one day just by chance I thought hey wonder if there is a mass effect and starship troopers crossover and I found one and I hoped that it was a good and well done one that gets updated and what I found here well surprised me as I find a lot of ME and INSERT GENRE whenever I look but this it's one of the better stories I've ever read on ffn but I'm not any sort of expert on either game or in starship troopers case book/movies/cgi/etc but while I read it on the wiki will the e-44 or e-88 pulse rifles make an appearance I realise that they were phased out in the movies and it said so on the wiki but could they be brought back? I realize I'm just a person who comments in the comment section and it's only an idea and in sorry for rambling on about this and the bad grammar of it but for a story as great as this where the stories good and the bugs are crispy I just can't stop singing the praise for this badass story.

**L4: ah that address' a problem I have with the guns and armor as well, but I'll start with your main question: I say that though movie (Mostly) didn't happen, the concepts and tech are well within my use. So yes those guns can be used and I may use them, but like the Mortia Marauder Rifle, I have to come up with a reason they are not used as much on the main lines that makes sense (Wait for Bloodraven to explain later)… of course I could just say the Morita Arms Company payed of some people in the military.. have to think about that.  
Any way the problem I have with the guns is they don't work on the same system, an example would be the rifle from the first movie is called ****Morita MK I , however in the mini books it's called Morita TW-201 if it was only that, it'd be a simple fix, but there weapons from the second movie and the third and the fourth that don't translate, not to mention the animated series. and then their arbitrary naming of armor, so this had left me with only one thing to do, start renaming weapons and armor so they're on the same naming system at least. I'll try not let it be noticeable but there may be some continuity gaffs on that part while I get that settled. **

**Lord Foul: wow, high praise. much appreciated, yeah pulse rifles mostly or completely bypass standard shields (Reaper shields Geth shields and a few specialist shield configurations like Tech Armor or Fortification have a greater or lesser ability to block plasma and particle weapons), so with the combat paradigm shifting they'll probably see more use.**

**likewise, the ME guys will probably shift development more towards armor more able to handle the SST guns**

**Bloodraven117: Luckily for you, I said that we should have all the weapons and equipment listed out so I can put some flavor text on them and look it up when we need some specialty weapon! And congratulations, I've finished the E weapon series.**

Yini-mina E-pulse 44 Assault Rifle: An alternative of the Standard rifle, only veteran units have the option of taking the rifle. Its unique projectiles and slower rate of fire makes it a good variant for MI use. In side by side tests it is noted to have an equal combat efficiency, and slightly greater in experienced hands. But its exorbitant cost per unit has foreclosed it from being the standard issue and limits it to a few million units.

Yini-mina E-pulse 88 Light Machine Gun: The bigger brother to the Assault Rifle, its use as an LMG has seen much more success. By sucking from an inbuilt battery or a back mounted generator, the weapon's "bottomless clip", has garnered a reputation and a desire for it in all units of the Federation for its assignment, with entire units and indeed regiments pooling their money together to finance its production in extreme cases. Its weight is standard of LMGs, equaling that of the "Little Nukey" assault rifle.

**Me and L4 have been working together to get this stuff and add a little bit of our own lore to the universe. What does "Little Nukey" mean? Will you see more of this stuff? Perhaps. ;)**

Author note: almost completed mass effect 1 and I could watch anderson pucn that diplomat all day


	20. Short Stories 4 Book one

**Cyricist001 chapter 13 . Aug 3**

**Any real AI can get around the three laws of robotics, a good AI is far smarter than a human.**

**Good chapter overall.**

_L4: you asked for it_

* * *

**Two Quarian meets two Drunk Terran in a Bar**

* * *

**Citadel, Tayseri ward, Krifka's Bar and Grill**** 2657 GS November /12/2329 AD**

Jeefa'Sina Nar Veepan sighed as she sat at the bar with her friend Daro'Xen, trying to figure out what to do for her pilgrimage, Xen wanted to go into robotics, but Jeefa was more into industrial labor. So far either way they hadn't found anything, but she was not letting that keep her down, they just needed something that could dazzle a captain into allowing them on to their crew... wishing she could afford to buy one of those drink, she looked over the gathered patrons while Xen tinkered with her drone, wondering if one of them could point her in the right direction.

Scanning the room, she stopped when she spotted two humans near the back, drinking and chatting away. Seeing them jogged her memory about their species, they had functional AI that they seemed to have control over, or at least a symbiotic relationship with. For a brief moment it occurred to her that finding out how they did it, or at least joining up with them may be a good start for her pilgrimage, and with Xen here to do the programming and robotics while she did the actual construction…

Elbowing Xen and nodding at the humans, she smiled behind her mask and approached the talking humans. Xen just shook her head as she returned to tinkering, trying to integrate a phasic round generator into her drone, "Umm, hello. May I join you?"

The rougher, unshaven one of the two, looked up at her, "Dude... I think I shouldn't have smoked that stuff, I'm seeing a BDSM chick standing in front of me." He was swaying side to side in a drunken stupor.

"Dominik, that's a Quarian, they sorta need that suit to, like, live. Think of it as them quarantining themselves from, like, everything." Explained the clean shaven one, "Sorry about him he's a bit... of, like, an oddball." He offered her a seat by scooting over closer to his friend in the round booth.

"Um... No problem, I have no idea what he meant by 'BDSM' anyways, I presume it's not an insult?" She asked taking a seat.

"What? BDSM? Nah, it's, like, inappropriate. A human sexual fetish." The clean shaven one commented, adding, "I'm Petty Offizier Paren Mamikonian, and this is, like, Petty Offizier Dominik Štepán. D-don't try pronouncing his name, lot'a people get it wrong first try." It was obvious that they were both really intoxicated.

Without showing any major signs of discomfort, Jeefa smiled, "Oh, um, alright then, I'm Jeefa'Sina Nar Veepan, my friend at the bar is Daro'Xen Nar Kerah." She introduced herself and Xen, Xen just waved from over at the bar, as if somehow hearing their conversation. Xen was weird. Trying to take hold of the situation she asked, "Sorry to... uh... like, intrude, but I was wondering if you would like to explain to me how you control your AIs?"

"Yeah, I know Asimov's Three Laws and I'll tell you now they're a bunch of shit." Dominik declared, Jeefa tilted her head in confusion while Paren looked annoyed at his comrade, taking a swing of his drink from a long necked bottle.

"You'll, like, have to excuse him." Leaning forward conspiratorially, Paren explained, "He's a bit of a conspiracy theorist." Paren whispered clumsily, "The laws are, like, one of the ways we control our AI units. Without them-"

"Without them nothing, they're not in the programming at all, except as a dumb idea of what not to do. Fucking suggestions more like!" Dominik explained drunkenly, slamming his bottle down in what he thought would be angrily, but instead was so clumsy it was actually cute. Whatever they were high on, Jeefa hoped that it wasn't addictive, and not allergenic. Because she wanted some of that.

Paren rolled his eyes in what Jeefa assumed to be annoyance, "The laws are like, so simple, they're impossible not to be implemented. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey orders given to it by human being, except, like, where such orders would conflict with the First Law. A robot is allowed a sense of self preservation, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. Course, like, some AIs are given more freedom on that first law than others, after all, a ship explosive decompressing means that you have to cut losses... "

Dominik took that opportunity to interject, "And good old Asimov broke the laws all the time! Hell didn't he make a concept of a fourth law, know as law zero, where all life must be protected. And, and resulted in a community of brain controlled people and animals, by an over AI called Gia- Gai- Gaia. Sounds like fuckin' Jai- GA- Jainism!" Dominik ranted as he took a hit off a smoking tube filled with something.

"Well that was like, Gaia. But that was the foundation books, and he wrote himself into a corner with that move and he knew it. And it was like the fifties or some shit, back with good ol' Heinlein, and Scott, and Peter… and Like… Shit man." Dominik clarified drunkenly.

"Wait, wait, wait a minute. Your three laws came from a work of fiction?" Jeefa asked, starting to understand what they were talking about.

"Well yea! We also got the automatic door, frickin' laser beams, the, the, the…. I'm sure we also got like, a lot more good ideas from works of fiction as well! A good idea can come from anywhere, and like, books and shit is where the ideas are implemented and envisioned, like good ol' weed!" Paren said as he took another gulp of his drink after a chuckle.

Dominik rolled his eyes, although it looked more like he made half moons, then continued, "You can say that all you want! But the rules don't work that way! Law one is already broken to shit as you said, ships have an AI core, and when a section has been breached they will close off the section to protect further loses! Law two: AI have been used against us humans in the south and north for fighting rebels and skinniest humans. Law Three: CHAS units have and will sacrifice others for the furtherment of the mission, and will do vice versa! The laws weren't made for the battlefield so they're not used in the programming at all! What PsychoWar Division tells everyone instead is to just humanize them with names and make them part of the crew and shit... you know the slogan, the Federation don't discriminate. I know it helps to breed loyalty and trust with them. It's why you won't see me bad mouthin' our cybernetic buddies! Could get an unfortunate accident with my food tray or some shit! That's how we keep control over our AI! Kindness motherfucka!"

Paren gently lolled his head in what Jeefa assumed to be him shaking his head in disapproval, "You're, like, being ridiculous man! What do you think all that stuff about the noncom AIs in the colonies following all, the like, rules and shit?"

Jeefa shook her head in confusion, starting to get a headache, "So either the laws are used, and they work, or they're not because they would cause too many processing errors?" Fuck whatever they were smoking, she didn't want it anymore. "This doesn't help me at all!" She wailed in despair.

Xen however was right behind her, having approached silently, "On the contrary Jeefa. I understood every bit. Although if my theories on what they're saying is correct, I wouldn't want to be the field test subject."

"AH! Keelah you scared me again Xen!" Jeefa looked back, cowering a bit in her seat, Paren looked at Daro'Xen curiously, before sliding an unopened beer over to the new Quarian,

"So, like, why did you want to know about AI anyways?" He asked as he took a hit on the shared smoking tube.

Jeefa looked up and was about to explain in detail the traditional pilgrimage, and how she needed to find something of worth to go back to the migrant fleet. Xen interrupted her, "Curiosity." Extending a feeding tube down to the beer, Xen examined it to make sure it was free of contaminants before taking a sip of the drink.

Paren nodded but Dominik asked suddenly, "Where did you work at before?"

"I was working on a manufacturing ship. We build a lot of the light things we need like replacement parts, third rate omni-tools, guns, ammo, you know." Jeefa said, trying not to rub elbows with Xen.

"I worked on the engine, and in the R&amp;D labs with my father." Daro'Xen explained cooly, leaning back and puffing out her chest a bit, while resting an arm lazily over the divide of the booth.

"Huh, well I assume you know, like, a lot about how those new fangled mass drive engines work? And I assume you know how to make some of those nifty new tools that use that new element zero shit?" Paren asked, finishing off his bottle of beer, and giving a very discreet glance at Xen's puffed chest.

Daro'Xen and Jeefa both looked at each other behind their masks and then nodded, "Yeah, we do." Jeefa said shyly, intimidated by Xen's casual ingratiation of the situation.

"Well, like, SICON has been looking for willing people to join up from the Citadel. People who can like, give a basic, or hell, advanced applications on how that element zero magic goop works. And if you were to go to our embassy I'm sure they would pay you nicely for your expertise… Hell, you may, like, get citizenship even."

"I don't think I would get the money necessary to complete my pilgrimage, and I don't think citizenship would be seen as a worthy gift either." Jeefa contemplated.

"We'll like, who said anything about going back with just money or citizenship?" Paren asked, "You help us out like, good enough, and I am sure the Federation R&amp;D would just be trippin' over their feet to gift you something good! You can be, like, the captain of your own, like, brand spankin' new cruiser when you go back to your fleet!" Jeefa didn't remember much after that, she apparently fainted at the thought of getting such a big new ship for her people. However before she fell unconscious, she heard Daro'Xen actually do a spit take.

* * *

**Lord foul: ha, gotta love those quarians *holds up shotgun* and so do you….**

**TimedRaven: For those of you who are interested, this took me about 5 hours to edit. And in that progress I added a page and a half worth of content. Look forward to more Dutch and Armenian fun with these two as they discuss the merits of their meritocratic Militaristic system, and the alarming tendencies it can have with Fascism!**

**L4: *hands up* Yes... I... love... Quarians...**

* * *

**A Border in the making**

* * *

**North Terran Federation Territory, unnamed space, 2657GS May/28/2329 AD**

Commander Gloria Basilio watched the space outside her ship, the Hera/Athena class armored cruiser. It had been an average patrol in the north, nothing out of the ordinary to report and rather boring. All of that combined made it a perfect day in most of their opinions. They were about to make the jump to the next planet that had just been detected on the frontier, and see if it was worth anything. It would probably be useless but you never know, she heard rumors about something big about to be revealed when she set sail two weeks ago, and she was betting it was a discovery of some kind.

Getting her mind back on the task she ordered her ship to make the jump, it was quick travel from her position only two hour away, so she took a quick catnap in the captain's chair while no one was looking. Sure it was unprofessional, but she had been with her crew for over three years at this post, and with such a boring post, she allowed for more regular rotations in the shifts of 4 hours instead of 8. And no one complained if she took a quick nap here, she just ordered the crew to wake her no matter the triviality.

She woke to find the trip was well worth it.

"Good afternoon Ma'am, we're detecting one G class planet and three moons around the local gas giants we can use with a little work." Her sensor officer reported as she looked over her computer, waking up Basilio.

"Hmmm? Oh," fully waking she rubbed the sleep from her eyes,"oh, good. Excellent work. We can always use a new world, helm take us in for a closer look. Sensors, please begin standard sweep. Gunnery, launch the spy satellite when ready. Navigation, start making logs and notes. Check to see if where we are." She ordered as she wiped the sleep from her eyes and made a much needed stretch with her arms and groaned. Looking at her timepiece it seemed the proverbial winds were in their favor, they had arrived a bit earlier than expected.

About 20 minutes later at a leisurely cruising speed, they were over the planet and it was a beautiful green and blue. Another earth like planet, though it did seem to be a bit geologically more active than they would have liked. She could see three black clouds from orbit indicating the presence of massive active volcanos.

"Looks like we're going to be preparing a report for the Federation Council. I'd like those reports in by Monday 2000 hours next week." She said as she looked upon the world from a view screen next to her chair.

"Ma'am I'm detecting an incoming object of unknown classification, entering orbit with abnormal means." her sensor officer reported.

"Orient towards the new object, start charging up the weapons, and come to a half stop." Basilio ordered, "Communications, inform crew that we are entering battle stations One Charlie, and for all unassigned crew to return to their quarters or safety rooms."

Within moments her ship had her starboard side to the incoming object, the massive double decker laser cannons revealing themselves on the side of Athena's thick armor. Small armored port holes rolling up with speed.

The Athena's over sized guns were meant to take on the massive bug colony ships, but they would most likely be devastating to any target that got in range. The only downside was she was a broadside ship making her a bigger target, not a problem in the early days of the bug war, but who knew when her class would be put out to pasture. They had some forward facing weapons, but they didn't nearly have the punch of even half a broadside.

"The object is slowing and coming into view now Captain. It appears to be a…. Junk-ship." Her helmsmen said as the flying junk heap of a vessel came into view, well it might not be junk but it sure looked ugly and rust covered. "Open a channel." Gloria ordered.

"Ah ma'am, they already have. You might want to hear this first." Her comms officer stated, a bit uneasy it seemed.

"Put it on." she confirmed.

The comms officer nodded and flicked a switch, "Terran vessel you are trespassing in Batarian Hegemony territory, state your business or leave."

A look of confusion passed around the bridge and she indicated to cut the signal, "How do they know who we are?" Her comms officer asked.

"No idea. Yeomen, run Batarian through the ship files, classified first please. We may have met the big reveal. Sensors, did we detect any signs of civilization on that planet?" Gloria asked an idea forming in the back of her mind.

"No ma'am." Her sensor officer reported.

"Alright wake up the Mobile Infantry and tell them to get ready for a drop."

"Ma'am?"

"Do you know what happens when two colonizing powers come to a new area?"

"No idea ma'am."

"Well they either act pompous and try and scare their competitors off, or they do this. Navigation, find our relative positioning double quick, I don't want to start an incident if we don't have too." She signaled the channel to be brought back up.

"Apologies we been away from Federation ports for a while now, can you explain who you are?" Basilio requested diplomatically as her navigation officer began to look very very intently at the various star charts.

"I am captain Bafin Cragdehal of the Batarian Hegemony, and this planet was claimed by us and by the authority of the citadel council we will hold it."

"I have no idea who any of those names are. I have not been briefed on you or any new neighbors, but if you would give us a few minutes we need to make sure we are still within the agreed upon bounds of our two territories." She replied affably, as she looked to her navigations officer who nodded.

"Ma'am we are on our side of the treaty line. Actually we are still very deep on our side." He reported with obvious concern. After he said that a light blinked, representing the MI were ready for a hot drop.

Basilio, in a streak of mischief reopened the line, "We have now confirmed our positioning. One more quick question; Do you have a flag down there?"

"A what?"

"I'll take that as a no." She smirked and signaled, and the under docking bays opened, the slingshot boats dropped out and headed for the surface of the planet, full of troopers. "A flag is how you know who owns something. After confirming our coordinates, it appears that we are within our legal bounds of territory. So actually, Batarian Vessel you are trespassing on Terran Federation territory, and apparently we are to search and board any vessel who has trespassed on our territory without prior permission."

"The council will never let this stand!"

"I sincerely doubt the Council will argue with a previously ratified treaty with them. We are a separate nation, they have no control over us. Now either leave or prepare to be boarded." she muted herself and kept the line open, "Send a message to SICON to get more ships out here ASAP with a quick response division."

Her comms offer nodded while her Yeomen looked up, "Ma'am is this wise? We've already had four bad first contacts."

Gloria thought about it and after skimming the classified need to know document said, "Yes. If we allow them to hold this planet they can recharge their FTL drive and actually strike into our territory. SICON's going to turn this place into a fortress."

"Let's just hope these Batarians aren't the kind of people to attack when trespassing."

* * *

**North Terran Federation Territory, Unnamed world, 2657GS June/11/2329 AD**

Commander Gloria Basilio paced up and down the bridge, when she had taken the planet two weeks back, she had hoped the Batarian would run back to home and leave her force in control of the planet, and at first she thought they had gone.

Then a week ago, four vessels showed up and demanded they leave the planet again. One of the vessels was as big as her own ship, and she had considered opening fire then and there, instead she simply told them to heave ho, and moved her ship into battle position and fired a warning blast over the Batarian's head. The lasers had made the enemy ships retreat to the edge of the system, where they had continued to order her to leave and gather more ships.

She should have destroyed them while they had been few in number, so she could press her advantage in surprise. But that chance was gone.

Frankly things were looking bad. If the federation didn't get something out here soon, her ship may be able to take on a dozen of the Batarians, but there were already three dozen out there. Stopping to take a deep breath, she looked out at the planet, rethinking this whole endeavour. Yeah having this planet would make sure they would have a forward base to protect their planets, but was it worth their lives and the loss of their ship not to mention possibly giving these aliens a chance to steal their tech?

She didn't think so, but she couldn't back down just yet, she represented the federation and she needed to show their resolve and strength. The Mobile Infantry on the planet below probably wouldn't give in even if she did back off, they spent the last two weeks digging in and building a fortress under a mountain. They made a killing field and and were more than willing to fertilize the ground with the enemy's blood. She was starting to regret taking on a unit that had the words "Die Well" in their mission statement, they had a tendency to be a bit suicidal.

She was roused from her thoughts when an alarm went off, the one she ordered set up if the Batarians made a move. She rushed to her seat and began taking control of the ship. She ordered her primary guns out, and started ordering the Cherenkov Drive prepped.

She had been studying the work of Professor Cherenkov and stumbled across one of his theories, that if you activated the drive for a brief moment you could create a rudimentary shield system, she dug into it and saw no one had ever tested that function, but it could work. Of course the moment the shield was up they won't be able to fire out, and they'd be burning fuel fast, and that was if she was right, if she was wrong, they could end up in a parallel universe, or inside out.

Well at least they wouldn't get her ship.

"Ma'am they are opening a channel and ordering us to leave… Again." Her comms officer reported.

"Noted." She replied blandly, looking out at the fleet. The Batarian ships did not at all look like the original junker. In fact if she had to guess, the junker was the odd man out, as most of the ships looked a lot newer and better made. And there was three dozen. Nine of which were a comparable size to her own cruiser.

Taking a moment to gather herself she opened a channel and said "This is your final warning: Leave this system, or die knowing your sacrifice was worthless."

"Terran scum, that planet is our property, and you will leave now or we will be forced to open fire on you!" The Batarian on the other side really wanted them to pull back, why was that? Were they scared?

"Just give the first punch, I'm sure your ship's hulls are barely civilian grade armor, not battle tested against Federation lasers." She replied confidently, with a smirk and defiance she really didn't feel. She could be the King Tiger, but she would die to a few dozen Shermans.

"Terran [word not found]! We are not playing around."

"Bitch, I have enough nuclear ordnance to crack a planet! And I would gladly use it on this planet if it means that you can't even use it for waste disposal." Tough words, she barely had enough nukes to inconvenience a bug nest.

"All ships destroy the Terran Vessel before it reorients-"

"Ma'am! We're picking up magnetic disturbances on our starboard side." Her sensor officer reported with an excited thrill.

"What?" She exclaimed and brought up on screen a camera onto the starboard side. "Oh and don't just sit there! Destroy those cruisers!" Looking to the starboard cameras, she saw ten federation vessels appear.

They were mostly Corvettes, though she thought she saw some of the older Valley Forge Classes in their number. But she wasn't looking at them too closely, she was too busy staring slack jawed at the structure they dragged behind them.

The ships disconnected from the 1800 meter disk, and it maneuvered revealing the disk was at the top of a 2000 meter superstructure.

"M-ma'am! That's the Fleet Battlestation Goryōkaku." Her comms officer stuttered. He never stuttered, "They've opened a channel to all ships."

"Put them on." She commanded numbly, wondering who gave authorization for one of the most destructive weapons platforms in Federations hands to be deployed.

The comms officer nodded and a moment later they heard a familiar voice, "This is Admiral Attilio Recci to the Batarian Fleet; you are in violation of federation space specified by treaty, and know it." He growled that last part out, sounding closer to an animal than a human.

"I have already sent an inquiry and have been informed you have not placed a proper colonization form with the citadel council as well as not listed a complaint. Everyone knows this is an illegal action and were trying to intimidate CommanderBasilio. Now prepare to be boarded and face criminal charges for jaywalking, loitering, and trespassing, resistance is futile."

There was a moment of silence then the Batarian ships started to reorient, "So be it. All ships I want disabling shots if you can! We shall will suffer no trespass!" Basilio knew that they wouldn't get all of them, but smiling she felt her ship rock as it obliterated a ship's engines and engineering compartment, and saw that over a dozen of the other ships were similarly disabled or destroyed.

By the end of the day, many of the ships scattered off into random vectors ten seconds later, using their own wounded comrades as shields from the laser fire as one by one their navigation computers cleared their course and they escaped. It was almost too easy, like their armor was made of paper.

"We survived." A pilot said revealing her misgivings in the situation. Gloria's thoughts mirrored the pilots, but she was still too busy wondering who the fuck the citadel council was and what had happened while she was gone.

* * *

Author note: this did not come out exactly in the order I wanted to so just know this happen around chapter 11

**Timedraven117: Can you spot the Warhammer 40k reference? This one is a lot more obscure. But I'll give you all a hint, it's from the Dawn of War game.**


	21. Short Stories 5 Book one

Fact Finding Mission

Phoros, Asari Republics, Citadel space

_From the office of General Carl L. Jenkins._

_"Special Service Agent, Lieutenant Third Class, Lokia Tromblay. I have determined that of the candidates for this mission, you are the most well equipped mentally for this mission. The Citadel has their own version of, 'Space Magic' instead of the insanity the coven can reap. It appears to be linked to something called Element Zero, and can be used to create Biotics soldiers with the potential to rival the abilities of some of our most powerful psychics. I have arranged transport for you to one of the Asari home worlds, and a meeting with some of their lead scientists, you are to evaluate these Biotics, and determine if we can use them in our ongoing wars. While there, you are a representative of the Federation. So be on your best behavior, and do not reveal your capabilities, we would like to keep that to ourselves for the time being. _

"What the hell does _equipped mentally _mean?" Lokia asked herself, puzzled. She had received these order about two weeks ago back on Earth, and since then had taken passage on half a dozen ships, and she learned one thing since her trip though Citadel space began... She wanted to go home.

For one thing the Federation gave you your own cabins, the Citadel just gave you a comfy chair like on an airplane. On the last ship she'd been on, her seat had been next to a group of Asari Commandos, or whatever they were called, and they had stared at her. To be fair she was the only Human this deep in Citadel space, and people had stared at her before. But those looks had been of unmentionable interest... the looks the Commandos had given her had reminded her of horny jocks.

When one of them actually proposition her to join their version of the mile high club, she was pretty sure she was not going to like the Asari, despite her own personal preference for the same sex. Maybe she did something to piss of General Jenkins and him knowing she was gay sent her to the planet of the green space babes.

Fucking prick if that was true.

Thankfully she didn't shoot the offending alien, she just said no. But she did punch one chick in the face when she got WAAAY too pushy, what else was she supposed to do, the blue skin had trapped her in the bathroom stall. Thankfully that seemed to be the end of it, though she could have sworn the blue chick watched her the rest of the trip.

Thankfully she had to crossover to another ship for the rest of the trip, and there had been nothing else.

An audible scuffle ahead, followed by an overwhelming wave of killing intent marked something serious was happening in the cabin ahead of hers. The last time she felt such an overwhelming aroma of battle lust she had been engaged in a several day skirmish with raiders.

She went into battle mode, ranging her mind outward, trying to get a lock on who was sending out the intent, but there were too many alien minds suddenly panicking for her to get a lock. So she did the first thing that came to mind.

She got up and stood in the walkway between the seats, letting dozens of concerned passengers stream past her as she advanced, pulling her reaper pistol free from its holster. She couldn't sense where her enemy was, but she knew they were getting ready to attack, the room was filling with foreboding that only a psychic could detect. She felt someone coming up behind her but she detected no battle lust, so she ignored them in favor of investigation.

In the first class section ahead of hers, gun fire started to scream aloud. Holding her pistol in both hands, she rushed toward the side of the cabin doorway, gently pushing aside those who got in her way, the presence following her took to the other side, holding a shotgun, and dressed in a bright blue pinstriped suit, with flexible combat armor underneath now that Lokia looked at the Asari. Gaze momentarily locked on the exposed cleavage before she snapped back to the door.

Peaking through the doorway, she could just see two commandos engaged in fierce melee combat with a couple four eyed aliens. The commandos were fast, but they were using knives against the Batarian's who had glowing blades forming from their omni-tools. The Asari were protecting the passengers who were streaming past them as they fell back to the rear of the ship. The few batarians further back were shooting everyone who they could, using some kind of stun pistol from the looks of it. She signaled the number to the Asari who peaked though and then nodded, racking her shotgun knowingly.

The Batarians pressed their number advantage, and managed to kill one of the commandos, but in doing so they left themselves open to a counter attack. She stepped through the doorway and fired a three shot burst into the closest Batarian. The first caused the shield to flare, the second broke it, and the third ensured he'd be called three eyed if he survived. She moved to cover as the Asari came though, blasting her shotgun into the closest Batarian, flaying him alive before getting in cover next to a commando, "Who the fuck are these bastards?" She yelled to the commando. Turning from cover, Lokia fired from an awkward angle at a visible Batarian, downing him with another burst.

"Long story, fight now, talk later!" The commando said, before the Asari who came through the door with Lokia put her shotgun to her head.

"Try again." the Asari relied in an annoyed tone.

"Okay! Okay! We're rival mercs. We screwed them on a deal a few weeks ago. They must have followed us."

"See not so long after all." The Asari said, then she yelled over to the Batarian "Batarian's, surrender now and I promise you'll get a fair trial!"

One the aliens yelled back, "You've spent too much time in the Republic's you bitch! We can kill you all then sell the passengers as slaves AND recover the goods they stole from us!" On reflection Lokia had to admit, they didn't really have much to lose continuing the fight, and if they surrendered they'd certainly get convicted of terrorism. Which in the Federation, that and piracy was considered a capital offense, they'd get the firing squad for sure even if they were the injured party.

The Asari looked worried so Lokia asked the commando "Wow, either they're assholes or you must have really screwed them over to get them this angry at you."

"Well they probably are, but the goods was some ancestral Batarian treasure. So yeah."

"Oh fantastic, now I'm fighting with graverobbers. How about we do it like this, when we're done here, we take ten minute shifts to beat the shit out of her?" She offered to the batarians much to the shocked looks of those around her. "Surrender now four eyes, and the worst you'll have to worry about is a quick death by my pistol!" She declared with serious intent in her voice.

"Fucking like to see you try Alien!" The Batarian sounded very amused, he would live to regret that.

Laughing darkly, Lokia's eyes metaphorically lit up, "Oh, this is going to be _fun._" Lokia called back, with a voice that made everyone within earshot uncomfortable. She reached out mentally, sensing the alien mind, she found the one she was looking for, their distinctive taste unique to their four dots on their heads. Releasing an unnatural banshee squeal, arms outstretched as the air rippled between her and her target, she stuck one of the Batarians' mind, his eyes exploded outwards at the sound, and his brain reduced to charred meat. His sickening psionic and physical screaming reverberated across the entire ship, and everyone on it could hear his psionically emitted torment, even after he had fallen to the ground and died, his screaming continued from his dead body. "I said, surrender, and you will only die by my pistol at worst."

The Batarians dropped their weapons in fear, and unsurprisingly surrendered.

Lokia moved forward and roughly arrested them all, pulling out plasticuffs and putting them in the seats they had just evacuated. She remembered a story on earth. When hijacking planes for terrorism became pretty profitable, one group tried it against the Jordanian government. The Jordanians captured all the terrorists on the airplane with only one injury, then they set them all in the first class seats, wrapped towels around their necks, and slit their throats. No one ever fucked with them again.

"How did you do that?" The asari asked.

Lokia looked over and ground her foot, "Do what? I'm not a xenobiologist, for all I know he had an allergic reaction."

The look of suspicious disbelief on the Asari's face made Lokia smile, "Anyways I'm going back to my seat.

The Asari looked displeased by Lokia's answer, "Ambassador Tevos asked me to keep an eye on you to make sure no trouble befell you. I'm Specter Lyerra Edaria."

Great... a tail. Lokia thought trying to hide her annoyance that she was going to need to be even more careful on this mission. "Well I'm Special Service Agent Lokia Tromblay."

Brunham 101-P 'Reaper' Pistol: Standard issue SICON service pistol, powerful, effective, and reliable, it's given upon request to any who ask. While no one expects it to take on a full sized warrior bug, it's more than capable of taking down human sized targets. Citadel interests have expressed a desire to compare it to their own ballistics weapons.

* * *

**BloodRaven: Damnit L4! Its commando! Not commodes! The Asari aren't exposed to be shat on just yet :p We still got about 5 more books until then.**

**L4: i say your wrong :P**

**Lord Foul: I'm with raven here (I know shocking :P)**

* * *

TFC: Mercenaries

East Federation, Shanxi, Shanxi Landing Port

"That vid your government released said you wanted mercenaries so we came all this way here, and now you're going to say we're not welcome?" Commando Janane Kyarev asked, pissed, glaring at the Terran Ensign behind the desk, who looked rather terrified.

"I'm sorry that this happened ma'am," the Terran squeaked out, "but that commercial was payed for by the colonies, and the Federal government didn't think anyone actually take them up on the offer."

The Asari shook her head in annoyance, "What kinda pessimist asks for help, yet expects none what so ever to appear? Was your government collectively dropped on its head when you were born, or are you just-"

"Janane stop!" Her second in command Grerloc Gox, a Krogan, warned. "Let me handle this. If you're going let your rage get the better of you, let me do the talking." He chided, and Janane just gave him a dirty look before taking a step back.

"Alright now Terran, explain why they thought no one would go to these colonies?" Gregloc asked, putting his weight on the desk and looming over the man, having a more menacing effect on the Terran.

"Those colonies are under threat by a force that uses mechanised forces en masse, in order for you to even have a fair chance you would need an army groups worth of vehicles, and I'm fairly sure your band doesn't number more than a few dozen with tech that doesn't work well against the foe." A male voice said from behind them.

The group turned to see a male Human in a soldier's uniform, though the patches were gone, sitting in a chair petting a cyborg dog who was happily panting away, "Oh that seems like an oversight to leave out of the video." Janane sneered.

"No one was expecting much from Mercs. Especially citadel Mercs. You people haven't seen a real war for centuries. And the war in the North isn't your standard petty warlord fight. No, it's a war of extermination, hundreds of tanks, dozens of mechs, hundreds of thousands of soldiers on a front at a time. Gox right? I read about your people, if you were alive for the last war, imagine it like that." The soldier smiled a grim smile, "The North is a death trap, even the best of the best of the Federation has extreme difficulties fighting the technologically advanced foe."

"Then why are they not letting us go there then?" Grerloc asked, intrigued.

"Beecause, there are paarts o' the goven'ent that don't want your death's to spaark a diplamaatic incident. " A female voice said.

Janane looked around confused, not seeing who had spoken even though it had sounded like it had been right in front of her. "Yo, bluoe chick, look down. I'm the dog."

Janane looked down at the human's pet, very confused, as Grerloc asked, "Your four legged animal just talked... is that normal?"

"For a dog? 'ell no. Boot for a maark four Neodog, 'ell yes! I'm an ooplifted animaal, and I can prolly taake yoou on in a square faight!" The dog boasted to the bemusement of the Krogan.

"She not wrong," the soldier added to the surprise of Janane, "not many Neo Dogs can take a Warrior Bug in a one on one fight, get hurt, then still be able to drag my power suited ass for miles to friendly lines." The soldier said with a smile.

"Uh, how is that lower life form talking?" Janane asked.

The dog gave her a look she couldn't quite understand, but she stopped panting and growled menacingly, "I'm an organic AI! Dum' iatch! I'm prolly smartar than you will eva bee!" Giving an air of superiority, the dog literally upturned its snout at the commando, much to the shock of the Asari and the heartful laugh of the Krogan."

"Okay! Where can I get one of you? I just have to bring back a litter of you to Tuchanka." Grerloc cut in before that argument could break out, "Anyways, if the north is a death trap Terran, where do you recommend we find work in your Federation?"

"It's Lieutenant William Lee, retired, and my partner here is Elizabeth Lee. As for the best place for work, look at the South West. The North will net you the most money and salvage, for what short time you live, and I do mean short. But the next higher rates are the South West which has both the Bugs and the Skinnie vying for control. It's the best because you won't have as much oversight, plenty of work to go around, plus the military has a heavy amount of troops there, so you will never be out there alone without backup. Of course the oversight you will receive will make you wonder if it would have been easier just joining the Federation, and you'll only be paid what you are worth plus hazard pay, don't think being a fancy shmancy merc band will get you any more money then the power armored shock troopers who insert via orbital bombardment." The soldier stated while sitting back and musing.

"Alright! We need six tickets to the South West please!" Janane said to the Terran Ensign.

"Ummm… What? There's only 6 of you?" Upon a nod from Janane, the Ensign sighed and covered his face with his hands, "I don't know what to tell you, but six mercenaries isn't going to get you any combat contracts. The most you'd get is R&amp;D and liason work at best." Upon a look of confusion he sighed, "Six soldiers using outdated, obsolescent, or downright improper equipment will be laughed right out of the command center, your standard weapons have trouble penetrating normal armor, let alone 3 inch thick chitin that requires high explosive shredder rounds the size of your middle finger to penetrate reliably. And I can't just have you port hopping, no ship captain in their right mind would let undocumented and unvouched for aliens on their ship." The Ensign explained.

"What if we get someone to vouch for us?" Looking to the retired Lieutenant, Gox caught a look from him that said he already knew his question, "Hmm hey Lee," Grerloc said turning to the Terran, "you interested in a job?"

The Terran looked up for a moment, and then said, "Well I did come here looking for ground crew job... But you will need to convince me. What do you think Lizzy?"

"It sound a lot moor fuen than beeing in a house all daay." The Neo Dog said wagging her tail. "Whoeva, we' aren't up foor a suicide missioon. You neeed too proove yourselves first!"

"The good Lieutenant here can't be the only one to vouch for you, the truth of the matter is, there has been a immigration blockade emplaced for a reason." The Ensign said, worried.

"Then get someone to do a damn background check then." Janane screamed to the Terran Ensign, "I hear you have something called Military Intelligence, tell them to look into me and my crew, they will clear us, I'm sure."

"You have no idea what Military Intelligence is do you?" William Lee asked

"I'm sure it's something like C-Sec." Janane said confidently, Grerloc groaned in annoyance, and all the humans and the Neodog laughed at her.

* * *

Reviews

PSG1JOHN chapter 19 .

Man after reading The star ship troopers book from 1959... it so different from the movie and at the same time it not. The book has place a big overhang on me when reading this story.

Ship were so huge as i thought.

Found out Mobile Infantry, it not normal ground ponders they are shock troops, they are more Star craft reapers, jumping flying 100meters at a time with flame throwers, with an exoskeleton laser guns with mini nukes. They are like Halo Spartans without the augmentation, in MJOLNIR like power armor.

Three types of Mobile Infantry...Scout, light armored exoskeleton, The Marauder is the standard unit with all the weapons armor, and the last one Command exoskeleton with more armor less weapon more command and control hardware.

The Bug's have Plasma laser gun and were beating the shit out of the federation.

Going try keep reading this story, but the books spoiled me to much.

**L4: you should keep reading trust me… "book two" is going to give you a ride if you like the book more than the movie.**

**BloodRaven: Heinlein, while an amazing theorist, still had some things to learn about infantry combat, the destructive power of nukes, and collateral damage. Sometimes you want to take a place that hasn't been irradiated and rendered into a crater.**

**Lord Foul: or less than a crater. Which is why the citadel folk think they're crazy (and they aren't wrong)**

OBSERVER01 chapter 19 .

great chapter. I do wonder how the council will try to retaliate at the skinnies.

**L4: with much anger i assume **

**BloodRaven: Blindly, with gusto, and much encouragement from their human counterparts.**

**Lord foul: RIP TEAR KILL….. In all seriousness they will strike back rather thoroughly **

**Khorn Berzerker: MAIM KILL BURN! MAIM KILL BURN!**

orion0905 chapter 19 .

Great chapter. A brand new front in the skinny war and maybe some Krogen aid? Looking forward to more. Also asari are fun.

Yeah, spoilers my favorite part of ME 3 was when I kill the ambastard. End spoiler

**L4:... just a little harsh (i have no idea what he did in 3 so that what i say) also half way though 2 now going careful though i know disaster looms beyond the IFF. also i'm liking mass effect two more than one it just a smoother experience, and the renegade interrupts are fun to watch though i tend to only do them when it tactily sound idea, such as that guy with the gunship. **

**Lord Foul: from what I know of you the themes expressed in 2 are more your style anyway.**

OMAC001 chapter 19 .

Can't wait to see more of the new phase to the Skinnie war!

**L4: I agree so much next chapter started working faster on it**

**Lord foul: and by faster he means….. Well I'm kinda holding us up with issues from work. sorry.**

Dinodude7 chapter 20 .

Ah there's the Hegemonies trademark arrogance getting them directly in the firing line of a civilization known to look at the complete genocide of planets as an acceptable strategy

**L4: ah as long as they don't cause trouble i'm sure nothing bad will happen *whistle* **

**BloodRaven: To be fair to them, they had never encountered the Terrans in person before, and so they have little to know on what to expect from them.**

**Lord foul: on the other hand, that's exactly why they should have waited for more intel, as the humans could be the next krogan or rachni.**

spyinsecret007 chapter 20 .

the necron

**L4: RAVEN!**

**Lord Foul: [canned laughter and applause plays]**

**BloodRaven: Wrong again! It's a quote. But it kinda got botched. My bad :/**

Fleightfire chapter 20 . 7h ago

Ah I sense the potential of a Human-Quarian alliance in the making, always love the type of stories like that in a first contact fanfic, so no need to hold me at gunpoint

**L4: *hands still up* lucky you**

**Lord foul: aren't your arms getting tired?**

**BloodRaven: *Watching youtube* "EVERYONE GETS STURMGEWEHRS!"**

Blackholelord chapter 20 .

I will state that I was actually worried for a bit for the Quarian/human relationship for a bit. The Batarian/human relationship I do not give an ass about, they can stay in a war state, are give the Batarians peace in a humble position after having their military crushed and force the lose of most of their colonies and all their slaves.

**L4: *claps***

**Lord foul: why were you worried?**

chapter 20 .

Was the reference the junk ship / ork space hulk?

Great story btw, I'm looking forward to more turian/human and quarian/human interactions.

Daro'Xen would be a major boon to have here with the terrans :).

**L4: hmm**

**BloodRaven: Nope, it's a quote. I'll give everyone a hint, its from the Space Marine Librarian.**

**Lord foul: here's another hint. Google it. But yes yes she would.**

247 Rampant Bias chapter 18 .

I'm Axcel (I also have an account named Axccel, found its login so that works, too).

I'm eager to see the citadel species learn first-hand what fighting the bugs is like. Rip that stick out of their asses. :D I can see it now with Citadel forces replacing humans in the first movie. Except the Morita rifles are likely much more powerful or at least the penetration would be much more effective against bug resilience than the "squishing" pellets used in mas effect guns. Hmm, that makes me wonder which would be better against the bugs, the movie morita rifles or the Aliens/Predator movie's assault rifle (caseless, 10mm, semi-armor piercing high-explosive)

**L4: we all are… and all i say it.. it coming and what i have planed in gloriously terrifying in horrors that shall be unleashed**

**Lord foul: I'm trying to make sure it's at least fair and makes sense both to the game cannon, to how the terrains influence their development and from a dramatic standpoint.**

**Play devil's advocate and whatnot.**

**BloodRaven: Uhhh, about the pulse rifle…..**

Mortia 202-A Assault Rifle "FeatherWeight": _The 202-A series of Morita rifles was a weapon made specifically for dealing with the bugs, but also maintains its combat effectiveness against other foes. It is significantly lighter, making use of plastic furniture instead of the all metal furniture of the 201 at the cost of mechanical reliability. It's use of caseless ammo reduces the chance of stovepiping or misfires, but it suffers from overheating when in extended use for long periods of time. Its ammo capacity is sometimes an issue as soldiers who put too many bullets in the clip find that the springs will fail to work and load the next cartridge, resulting personnel to load a few rounds less than the maximum. While bulky like its predecessor, its lighter weight makes it deceptively so, and many veterans of the war have noted such and refers to it by featherweight. It also retains its underslung rail for attaching secondary weapons like shotguns, flamers, or grenade launchers._

**Morita already made one. **

OMAC001 chapter 20 .

Why were the Batarians fighting over the planet? Was it Dis? Loved the scene with the Quarians! Please update soon!

**L4: it was just some random planet**

**Lord foul: note that he didn't (directly) answer the why.**

Poliamida chapter 20 .

And we have Daro'Xen! I love the girl, I have read version of her that go from 'Female Dexter' to 'Would be best pals with Fabius Bile (just before one tries to dissect the other)' so I have great hopes for her here.

Ah, yes, the Batarians, if the Alliance gave them problems I can't see them doing much against the Federation, even with the humans stretched thin.

About the reference, no, sorry, didn't get it.

Keep it up!

**L4: I was encouraged to add her to this story by Blood, but I only met in mass effect recently, I got to say, I'm glad I let her in this story.**

**BloodRaven: Ahh, Fabius Bile, the only creature both trollish and evil enough to make female Space marines.**

**Lord Foul: aaah fanfiction, a haven for deep interpretation of character development powerful enough to touch the heart…. Or alternatively a load of total bullshit**

anu chapter 20 .

I do enjoy reading this story it just crossed my mind the citadel races might need help updating their tech base in order to better fight a war they just entered into

**L4: a new age of tech is dawning **

**LF: winter is coming **

monkeynipplelickers chapter 20 .

Great chapter, I loved it absolutely loved your story. I was little surprised the two drunk terrains in the bar didn't mention the "fourth" Law of robotics. The robots must protect humanity as a whole over the individual. This would override the first three laws.

**L4: they were very drunk **

**BloodRaven: Not to mention inconsistent.**

**Lord Foul: and in places blatantly wrong**

The Sithspawn chapter 20 .

Loving this story! Especially how shocked the Feds are at having a peaceful (relatively) First Contact.

I'm enjoying how you're meshing both verses.

Can't wait to see what happens next to so please update soon please!

**L4: here you go an update!**

1529 chapter 17 .

Interesting story to this point, although I noticed one thing in the notes of this chapter, ME is massively outnumbered against humanity... it is ME canon that after humanity became a council member the total number of legal dreadnoughts was 35 (I did the math a few months ago for a crossover that I have been working on), so the Council would be staining to catch up, with a goal of probably doing so in decades at the very least.

Thanks for writing.

**L4: terran ships are smaller comparable so right now the humans have one citadel length dreadnoughts, but no doubt as the citadel sees the horrors beyond the federation they will build up**

**BloodRaven: Good luck to the Council, but I severely doubt they would bother investing in more dreadnoughts. Doing my own math, I estimated the Turian fleet is around 40,000 combat ships. Why waste massive amounts of eezo when you can just build more cruisers.**

**Lord foul: exactly how much Eezo exists and is accessible seems intentionally vague at best and inconsistent at worst especially given how easy it is to find the amount you can unclaimed in 2, I mean who else besides me and my IRL buddies had enough to fund all their ezero projects before even getting tali.**

**Eezo is rare relative to other substances, certainly. But space is big.**

**On the other hand, because devil's advocate is my job here (that and editor :P) eezo isn't the only expensive component**

**Dreadnaughts are big and any dreadnaut actually worth building would have loads of high tech shit like the 16 (by the time of cannon ME2) Salarian Stealth Dreadnaughts**

magnusvictor chapter 18 .

Cap'n Chryssalid (sidenote: OMG my favorite author likes this story too!) raises a good point: This is the first fic I can remember where the Humans/SA are good friends with the Hierarchy. It's amusing for me to read, since I started reading this fic immediately after finishing an XCOM/ME crossover where those two groups are pretty much xenocide-level pissed at each other.

**L4: ha XCom good game, but really no one tried that hmm… well i takes a sledge hammer to cannon so it works for me.**

**BloodRaven: Hey, maybe this time Saren will be a recruitable party character...**

**Lord Foul: we're sorry you must now reboot your "human" (designated: LF)**

Guest chapter 20 .

more please I really would like to read more of this story

**Lord foul: you asked and we have provided (at least we have by the time you read this…. That totally counts right?)**


	22. Chapter 16 Book one

CHAPTER 16

The Bug War Over!(?)

The Federation council has declared the second bug war nearly concluded. The Arachnid home world has been destroyed, and evidence is coming to light that the Bug Empire has begun feral infighting, disintegrating into wild animals. The council feels they need to focus on other more pressing threats to the Terran people, such as the Ptolemaic Hegemony (otherwise known as the Skinnies), the Fourth Terrorists, and the coven puppet Terran Republic.

These threats have been deemed ever more urgent, and with the Skinnie War heating up, they need to be the focus of the Terran war machine. But the Bugs are not gone, and this must be remembered. In the west, clean up operations are underway along the new border with the arachnid quarantine zone. Even feral bugs cannot be underestimated, and fortifications are being built along these border worlds that are meant to act as both forward warning relays, and defensive strong-points, meant to hold back the possible counter attack in case they ever reorganize. With the discovery of mass relays, the Fleet of the West is sending out scientific expeditions to map and chart these relays, and to expand beyond them if possible, in search of any more lurking threats.

Would you like to learn more? Continue.

* * *

HEGEMONY WAR!

Our brave boys and girls in green and grey are pushing into the Hegemony, and already they're meeting resistance from the locals. From Svixsula to Uredennes, our forces are blasting the Skinnie ships to atoms. Clearing the way for our troopers to deliver swift justice to the Skinnie forces on the ground. With every battle, MilInt assembles more intelligence to use against our foe, it won't be long until we come upon the Skinnie's homeworld.

Would you like to learn more? Continue.

* * *

BREAKING NEWS

We go live to field correspondent, Private Johanson, on the planet Seeden.

"Welcome to Seeden," the flemish reporter greeted as he motioned behind him to the expansive battlefield where both the Ptolemaic and Terran forces were actively fighting, the planet's thick multicolored vegetation giving the impressions of a rave party, "the new battleground for the 74th Terran Army Group, a Skinnie world on the edges of their space, we have just landed on this planet last night, and met little resistance. Most of the clans here wish to avoid conflict or are in open support of the Federation, as a result local command has decided to make only surgical strikes against hostile clans, with the option to honorably surrender or leave the system." Suddenly in the background, screaming and shouts erupted. The camera remained fixed on the reporter as he looked on in alarm,

"They've breached the lines! Fall back, fall-" The sound of thunder cracks and lightning striking cut off the voice.

"What the hell?! Enemy Psykers!" The reporter yelled, dropping his microphone and moving for his sidearm before he was struck in the side by lightning. Falling against the rock he had been standing on, to the reporter's credit, he was still moving before he was shocked again from off camera. His body charred, his suit penetrated, and smoke rising from his body.

A clawed hand grabbed the camera, one of its fingers over the lense of the tripod mounted device, lifting it, one could see two Skinnies in heavy robes, one held a Skinnie shock staff, the other had nothing. The unarmed one spoke to the camera in the Terran tongue, "The Cabal of Seeden will not cower in fear from the Terran scum." With that message, the camera was thrown to the ground and then the signal abruptly cut as it was hit by lightning.

Would you to know more? Exit

* * *

**Decision of Ixphasetus, Tesla'Vir relay 2657 GS December /30/2329 AD **

General Septimus Oraka looked over the destroyed city with disgust, he had seen many awful things in his career, but this had to be up there. The numbers were still coming in but it looked like 90% of the population was gone if not more.

People were volunteering in droves, some simply to help rebuild the colony, others directly for the military, there were even some merc bands who were offering their services pro bono fishing for favors, and several Spectres had even arrived with their entourage. Though he was trying to keep them away from the Terrans. He found the Terrans were as mean as krogan when drunk, and it would do no one good for a Spectre to kill a Terran in a bar fight. To the Terrans, the Spectres had no form of diplomatic immunity, and would be more than fair to call for the Agent's head, or in proxy, the Council's heads.

This incident had inflamed every corner of Citadel space, and even the Asari Councilor was making remarks that were in favor of conflict. Something he thought he would never live to see. It would take time to rebuild, but it would happen.

Right now the Mobile Infantry Light Troopers, rear echelon soldiers essentially, were helping look through the ruins, using some modified animals called "Neo-Dogs" and plenty of normal "dogs", to help locate people trapped under buildings. Scarce as survivors were. A regiment of M8 Ape Marauders had been rerouted to the planet and were digging through the destroyed buildings and wreckage, with the occasional firefight heating everyone's blood.

The most shocking thing about the Light Troopers was they were armed and armored similar to Council soldiers, though lacking Kinetic Barriers, and they considered them rear echelon third rate combat troops, meant to exploit breakthroughs and hold static positions. There were several possible implications to this, none of them were exactly pleasing.

The Terrans had very bad experience with the sudden creation of their Light Infantry, namely the biggest military defeat since they reached space, the First Battle of Klendathu. The Light Infantry were given similar levels of training as Turians soldiers, their rifles were on equal footing with the Taetrus assault rifle, and their armor was as effective as Turian combat armor able to protect the wearer from shrapnel and minor wounds and keep them from dying if directly hit. While Kinetic Barriers were a game changer, he had seen demonstrations of the raw destructive power of the Morita rifles. And what they lacked in capacity, they more than made up for in killing power.

There could be a differing military doctrine regarding rear echelon soldiers. The asari used them as logistics personnel only if they used them at all. Salarians rear echelon were strike teams dedicated solely to exfiltrating stuck commando teams and attack forces with overwhelming firepower. Turians's rear echelon were a mix of all of the above, with new recruits, command staff, and more all balled together.

He shook his head clear of it all, determined to ask the next Terran commander he saw the exact definition of their doctrine.

The Turian fleet was taking control of the relay on this side, and he had plans to send a probe to the other side to determine what defences, if any, were on the other side. If they had substantial defenses, they would at least have the location of the relay, which they could send to the Terran Federation who could attack from behind and allow for his fleet to catch them in a pincer. Opening up a new front against the Ptolemaics.

The biggest problem on their side of the relay however was that the skinnys fleet had not been caught here, estimations of at least a hundred ships had escaped to the wider galaxy, a lot of smaller raiding groups were showing up on the doorstep of nearby colonies and causing horrendous trouble, going so far as to orbitally bombard the colonies, wiping them out. And the worst part was they were completely independent from the relay networks and impossible to track, since they didn't use Mass Effect tech they could go far off the grid and avoid the Citadel ships, and find planets beyond known systems to establish bases, breeding grounds, factories, and more. It was a strategic nightmare of unimaginable proportions if they could not be caught, which the Terrans had assured they wouldn't be found in time, these being veteran raiders.

* * *

**Ptolemaic Hegemony, Seeden 2658 GS January /10/2330 AD **

Major Timothy Simpson moved silently through the sleepy Skinnie village, his zebra striped troopers securing the houses one by one. So far the operation had been clean with no fatalities on any side.

But he knew things could go bad as soon as they reached the Cabal's temple, that was why he was having the few Skinnies they came across stunned and tied up.

He thanked god that the Skinnies were more afraid of the cabal then they were of his men, otherwise he may have had to fight house by house. He still might if the one of the Skinnies got to the temple and warned them before his men had secured the village.

If FedNet had stopped the broadcast faster, they could have kept the entire issue underwraps and solved by a simple precision artillery strike. But because the reporter had used the live function, most of the southern colonies had seen his death before they could stop the transmission's broadcast. Now they had to take this planet by hand to assuage their fears, and that meant a lot of people, both Skinny and Terran, could die here.

Fighting a cabal was one of the worst jobs in the universes, thankfully most of these Cabals were peaceful monks who could see reason. But like any religion you got radicals. Cabals were groups of Skinnie psychics that linked their minds to attain greater power. It was unknown if they were the only Skinnie physics present, but what was known was they typically came from more barbaric skinny planets, which encouraged greater genetic diversity for some reason, and were often dominated by brutes and psychics. Combined they would control the Skinnie populations through intimidation and mind control.

The sickening things Cabal's like these did to their own subjects reminded him of the stories of WW2 Japan, too blinded by pride and arrogance to surrender unconditionally when it was their only option. But at least when the nuke was dropped the Japanese leaders were broken from their internal division, and surrendered when no negotiated peace would evidently come. But the Cabals considered their slaves like worthless meat, and would rather completely commit genocide against their own people than surrender.

"Sir we've reached the temple, there's no movement inside. What're your orders?" One of his platoon leaders asked over the radio.

Timothy sighed, thankful, and gave the best order he could, "Set every TOAD charge, Pee Wee Nuke, and Thermo charge you have on that building, when command gives the go word, we'll nuke it then turn the rubble to ash with artillery…."

* * *

**Ptolemaic Hegemony, Republic of Hammon 2658 GS January /20/2330 AD **

Sergeant Tereus Ursition, of the 43rd Turian Army Division looked out of the dropship bay door as it opened, expecting enemy fire the moment the doors opened, instead he saw most of the Skinnies running away or cowering in fear. A small percentage of Skinnies were coming out of elaborate homes with rifles, but they were not firing, and their lack of armor indicated they were likely militia or police.

Tereus had come to this world as part of a Federation expedition fleet, and for once it was not cleaning up pirate parties like his job back home at the Citadel. This world was on the other side of the relay that led directly to Citadel space, the defenses broken easily enough by the Federation. So once the relay was secured, they got fresh troops from the other side and now the Hierarchy could form their own front in Ptolemaic space.

Tereus followed his orders, and deployed with his unit out of the landing craft, keeping a good formation and behind cover as they watched the Ptolemaics, '_Why aren't they firing?_' he wondered. Looking around at the richly decorated buildings that surrounded the park square they had landed in. If he had to guess, the wealth these people enjoyed came from the massive ship building facilities that nearly encircled the city. They had no beef with the Terrans, and likely rarely engaged in slavery.

As he watched the road, he saw a group of blue clad soldiers following another Skinnie with a ridiculously long cape and a funny looking hat pushing their way through the crowds. They came as close as they dared, which was pretty damn close, then the leader in the funny hat yelled from where he stood, "Greetings Aliens, I, the Grand Doge Al'Mon, of the Republic of Ha'mon, Greet you and welcome you to our planet, as the great conquerors and warriors you undoubtedly are, and I would gladly speak with your leaders to negotiate a peaceful settlement with no bloodshed."

"This is well above my pay grade." Tereus muttered to himself, then yelled over to his CO, "What should we do?"

"I'm calling the Joint Commanders now, Grand Doge Al'Mon, if you would like to enter my command center I'm sure you would like to sit down while you speak with my leaders…."

* * *

**Ptolemaic Hegemony, Carthago 2658 GS January /21/2330 AD **

General James Projak was not a fool, he knew sooner or later the Federation would win the war with the bugs, and if the Ptolemaics weren't ready, they would roll over the Hegemony like a steamroller on asphalt. He had thought he had a few more years to build up his forces, and maybe even take Lockhet from his former ruler's hand to fortify it beyond comprehension.

However time was not in his favor, the Terrans and the Turians were conquering their way across the Hegemony at alarming speed. Projak's initial estimate was at least 10 years for the Federation to put down the Hegemony as it stood when he entered the scene. It had been 8 months since the attack on Shanxi, bringing the Turians into the war, and the Hegemony was on the verge of collapse. Not to mention the unexpected and very sudden end to the Second Bug War had freed up millions of Terran soldiers to reorient to the Hegemony. It didn't help that the Hegemony was less than unified in its resolve, the outer worlds bordering the Federation would fight to the bitter end, but the worlds after that were soft, and had no real hate for the Federation, more than willing to negotiate a surrender with little bloodshed. He figured he had a month until they showed up on his doorstep, so he did the best thing for himself and his people.

"My lord, the first few ships have departed the system with your wife and servant heading for Punic." Ar'ack said as he came into the Terran's office. The Man staring at the collection of history books, tomes of poems, and novels.

"Thank you Ar'ack, is your family off already?" Projak asked Ar'ack, who had served him since he joined the Hegemony, and while Ar'ack at first had been passive aggressive and secretly resentful, they had grown close over the nearly two years time.

"Not yet my lord-"

"Then you better see to it they are off immediately Ar'ack." He ordered, giving him a stern glare so he would leave and attend his most important duty, "And while you are at it Ar'ack, please try and evacuate as many of our soldiers and their families as possible. For those who cannot leave, give them the option of honorably discharging from service so they may stay behind."

Ar'ack was speechless, he, like most, believed Projak to be little better than a tyrant, but the way he spoke of that was very touching to the Ptolemaic, "Of course my lord… Thank you."

"Do not thank me Ar'ack," Projak snapped, "a soldier cannot fight at his best if he cannot guarantee the safety of his loved ones." Ar'ack saw sense in that, but he saw past the deflective answer, as Projak stared at his collection of books while he idly cleaned his glasses.

"Even so my lord... Thank you." Ar'ack left the room. Once the Ptolemaic was gone, Projak went back to packing his books and mementos. Running away may not be the most honorable thing to do, but it would do him the best in the long run. He was taking everything he could get his hands on, and heading for the other side of Hegemony, there he had two choices depending on how the war played out: Stay and rebuild there until he could retake the Hegemony for himself, or if the Terran Federation brought the boot down and attempted to conquer the entirety of the Hegemony, he would flee further into unexplored space.

Well unexplored by the Hegemony, he still had sources in the Federation and that they had been able to get him an updated map that included what the Citadel had given the Federation, which of course was nothing more than vague lines without detail, but it was enough to know about other empires of very disparate connected planets called the Terminus Systems not to far from where he was heading, only a thousand lightyears to the nearest active relay. He had no details about it beyond the fact it existed, however that meant he could cultivate allies if need be, or conquer those who proved weak. Either way he was going to give himself time and space to build up, and in ten years or so, who knew what he may be able to do.

* * *

_**Kaphandaris**_ **Ptolemaic Hegemony , Molchomor 2658 GS January /23/2330 AD **

General Septimus Oraka watched the ship yards on the planet below burn. He wasn't sure about the deal the Citadel had made with the Ptolemaics of Hammon, but he was glad the Skinnies of Molchomor had decided not to surrender. The leaders of Hammon had divulged a lot of information, telling them where some great targets were, like the shipyard below, but in exchange they wanted the shipyard destroyed. It was obvious why, Molchomor was Hammon's competition for Ship construction and personally he wasn't sure if he should have honored the deal, but the leaders of this planet had launched what fleet they had, and attacked his ships the moment they had arrived in system. Which meant a little retribution had to occur. Inadvertently fulfilling the deal...

Oraka looked away, realization dawning on him, disbelieving how he had so easily fell into the political trap.

* * *

**TFS **_**The Battles of Ypres**_ **Ptolemaic Hegemony 2658 GS January /27/2330 AD **

Captain Carmen Ibanez held onto her Chair as the Skinnie dreadnought fired another yellow volley of lasers at her own ship. Thankfully she had the best damn crew in the fleet and the dreadnought _Ypres_ danced out of the way, her own crimson beams being fired from her fourteen forward facing cannons.

"Direct hit, damage negligible!" Her weapons officer called from her seat, cursing loudly into the speakers to the forward gunnery teams to work faster.

"Damn it, they must have ripped the plating from one of our ships, and back engineered it." Her sensor officer proposed from her own seat. Hanging onto her seat for dear life, even though she had her seat straps tight, as the Gs of more hard turns pulled the crew throughout the ship.

"Than more reason to destroy that ship!" Carmon announced, looking at the battlefield before her. They had been hunting this ship for a week, it should have been no match for the terran ship in a one on one, but this dreadnought was a top of the line Hegemony ship which meant that if it escaped, some day the Skinnie ships would be more of a match for the Federation. That was something no one wanted, but thankfully the shipyard this ship came from had been destroyed by the Turians, meaning the only place the Skinnies could get the tech from was the ship she was hunting.

"Ma'am! If they stay on this course they will be passing by this system's asteroid field, and will be far enough away from the system's sun to escape!" The Ship AI chimed in. "They'll be clear in 5 minutes!"

"Ypres, can you plot an in system jump to where the Skinnie ship will cross into the asteroid field?" An idea began to form in her mind. A desperate and almost insane idea, but her career was a large trail of them.

"Yes captain but if we do that they will most likely change course once we are no longer behind them, and start running dark to evade detection." Ypres warned, but did as told, having learned from reading Carmen's file that she was good on her word.

"They will be there, prepare the red hawk supply boats and outfit them with our spare nuclear missiles, I want them to start the minelaying protocol."

* * *

**TFS DR-243 _Río de la Plata_, John A. Warden class Dreadnought, orbit of Libertatem League home world 2658 GS February/20/2330 AD **

Sky Marshal riverfield looked down on the green blue ball the Libertatem called home, it had taken very little time at all to push this far into the Hegemony, and he was not sure if was just how bad the Skinnies military was, or how great the troopers of the Federation where, but either way their fleets were now in range of the Skinnie's central planets. They would soon be attacking the homeworld of the Skinnie who attacked shanxi, and after that they were pushing for Ptolemy herself.

If he had his way the Skinnies would never again be a threat to the Federation. But things weren't going his way. The Citadel had gotten fully involved with the war now, and they had acquired several planets in the Hegemony themselves, he didn't know what they would do with the planets and the Skinnie on them but he was sure they would not be as strict as he would like them to be, which meant he had to be more level handed with them or risk the Skinnie lodging complaints with the Citadel forces, which would result in the Citadel putting political pressure on the Federation council, and no matter how good a soldier he was, if he could not be a good administrator and politician he himself would be the first to turn in his rank.

The entire campaign was going better than expected despite the strategic setbacks that they had encountered, or more specifically their allies had encountered. High command, particularly the Sky Marshal Prime, was willing to experiment with faster tempoed operations, differing from her trademark "Creeping Advance" she most favored. This was a move that had many people in the Federation divided, since such reckless charges had resulted in the atrocity that was the First Battle of Klendathu, with nearly 300,000 dead in 3 hours, with the final tally being millions of dead Humans.

Richard was of the opinion that it was a good idea to start experimenting with the strategy, and they would get no better opportunity to practice in real life. With the Skinnie in full retreat, most of the Skinnies were reeling to get out of the way, and what players were still participating in the fight were staying in hopes to settle old scores like the shipyard incident the Cits got involved last month.

If they kept up this process the war would be wrapped up in two mouths with the entire Hegemony under their boot, faster perhaps if the new strategy panned out. And then they could carve the Hegemony up with the Citadel - the similarity with the Century of Humiliation for China did not dawn on him - However, that left the Libertatem to deal with.

He had just personally returned with a meeting with the grasshoppers, and though he disliked bugs like all Fed officers, he was able to look past it to thank them for saving his life and that of the fleet at Cassandra. So far everything had gone well, they wanted out from vassalization, which was easy to do, but he needed to keep them under the nominal control of the Federation, or at least have more influence than the Citadel. That was the issue.

The Federation needed these grasshoppers to be firmly on their side, they had access to element zero and the tech base to use it, with technology even the Asari didn't have access too. Mostly in the civilian field since they had not developed their military, in order to deprive the Skinnies of it. But Richard saw useful societal and military applications even in their civilian field, and he was eager to keep them on the side of the Federation for now, until he knew how far he could trust the Citadel. He had let the Libertatem know that they could easily corner the market in hovercraft and other gizmos that would help gain Terran consumer trust, get them on their feet economically, while also getting the Federation acquainted with element zero so they didn't have to depend on the Cits, something they did not need right now.

Thankfully the grasshoppers needed military support and the Feds were here first and with the most, he was sure he could convince them to ally with the Federation before the Cits got wind of the deal, and perhaps if he was lucky even induct them into the Federation as a probationary autonomous sector.

The war was all but won, but the peace was still in the air...

* * *

**Codex: Terran Federation**

Military Intelligence (MilInt)

Terran Federation Military Intelligence, also known as MilInt, is the branch of SICON in charge of a variety of groups relating to special operations and strategic intelligence.

Special Services: In charge of the application of Psionic powers in the military.

General Strategic Command and Control: Responsible for the vast majority of intelligence operations. From the skinnys to the Bugs, they ARE MilInt.

Special Operations and Forces: Internal diplomatic resources, black ops, special forces, and more, they are both the most visible and most secretive aspect of MilInt to the general public.

To be continued

F13D chapter 1

I would just like to state that modern militaries no longer use steel as the main armor component of their vehicles. While u placed steel on a naval ship, which is different, I feel that nanocomposites would work better.

**L4**: i think I left that vague as steel alloy but nonetheless I'm sure they use the most advanced methods they have to produce ships.

F13D chapter 9

Shoving grenades into mouths, ahh classics.

**L4**: without classics what's the point?

F13D chapter 11

Funny thing is that the Alliance cannon cruisers were 707 meters while Turian cruisers were simply 500 meters.

Ironic that they didn't bother with Destroyers, at least for the Alliance, that would hunt in packs with cruisers. I know that is a frigates job, however I believe they would better used as screen defense.

**L4**: agreed

**Blood Raven: **The unfortunate nature of people who don't understand military tactics and doctrines.

F13D chapter 14 .

Bioware was indeed heavily roman inspired to the point it got annoying. I get the Turians, but then the Collectors, Cerberus, and even the Blue Suns began having Roman ranks or names (like the Collector Praetorian) and it got annoying after a while.

It's like they just recycled their old names.

**L4**:Note to self come up with better ranks for Collectors, Cerberus and Blue Suns.

Second note collectors still have no idea but since Cerberus with be an offshoot of the terran military rank from them will work, and blue suns may have some relation to the Black Cross thus there rank system

**Blood Raven: **Blue sons likely won't exist as a merc group. Maybe an illegal criminal enterprise, but the Federation won't tolerate humans going out of the Federation expressly for mercenary purposes both for propaganda and intelligence security among other reasons.

**ark **chapter 21 .

I think that if the Terran share their FTL drive with the Citadel races it could allow them freedom from the relays they would be able to colonize worlds that exist outside the relays it could also support their war effort with an influx of new materials ps also good read nice job

**L4**: I have some sides story coming on that concept

**Blood Raven**: It's' unlikely they will do it in the time frame of the first book, maybe the second (With them forced to only buy from Terran Shipyards). Don't give up a perfectly good Monopoly if you're the monopoliers.

raw666 chapter 21

Well, things just got real and they're not going to get any better. I see a future where the Citadel is building up forces for the wars currently happening.

Also curious, while I don't see ezzo going to replace the fleet, I am curious with the advantages such as making armor thicker and giving the Terrans possibly longer range weapons, will we be seeing next generation ships coming into service with Element Zero cores to replace ships lost and expand the fleet?

**L4**: I recently had a delicious idea on this so though my answer once was no, it has changed.  
**Blood Raven:** Variety is the spice of life, Eezo core ships can do insystem fTL jumps more easily, but Gravity drives (Federation drives) are more simple to fuel (If it is matter it will burn in a pinch), move just as fast if not faster in some cases, not reliant on relatively scarce element zero, and the best part, no need to discharge that pesky magnetic energy built up by using Eezo drives (In fact they may specifically put those on terran ships to help power them and extend range by converting their static build up into usable energy) and Relays are less of a problem subsequently meaning fewer strategic chokepoints! The downsides of them are if you near a gravity source like say a sun or if you're really close, a planet, you can't engage in jumps and have to get away from the source of gravity. Relatively minor inconvenience really.

Admiral Saris chapter 21

I liked the first story. The second was kind of confusing, especially since I'm not very familiar with starship troopers. If six mercenaries was too few, why didn't he just refer the company to a larger human mercenary company? If things are so bad surely they need numbers badly enough that some mercenary companies will ignore the fact that the group is alien?

Anyway, looking forward to the next book chapter.

**L4**: the existence of the black cross is why mercenary companies are not allowed to become a larger organization like we see in Citadel space, though companies like the Morita Arms Company do hire large quantities of mercenaries they are so tied with the government (Basically a subset of it) it's allowed.

**BloodRaven**: Have you seen REAL mercenaries? As in real life ones that are used by governments? They lack: Heavy weapons, anti tank weapons, armored vehicles, artillery, and aircraft. Now these are CITADEL mercenaries, glorified security guards, sure they may be able to take on a warlord's cronies who lack all of the above, but they are fighting a military force that puts the Terrans to shame, let alone the Turians who would have trouble fighting the Terrans themselves. Then to add to that, they are the ONLY Citadel Merc group who came to them for work so far. They can't be grouped up because there is no others to group them with, add in Terran Xenophobia and you have them being turned away for their own good.

OBSERVER01 chapter 21

Excellent chapter. I actually prefer the original ST novel over the yes the mobile infantry in the novel could be considered like the Halo Spartans in armor and without the surgical enhancements.

**L4**: True but diffrent kinda enemy

Joe Fenton chapter 21

The biggest difference between the book and the (first) movie was not plot or equipment or anything similar, it was tone. They gave the movie to the guy who did Robocop, and while Robocop did excellent as a parody of a dystopian corporate-run future, that was almost the opposite of the tone of the book. The movie would have been far better if they had done it like "The Big Red One". The tone of that movie was almost perfect for Starship Troopers.

As it is, the movie is an abortion to (almost) everyone who likes the book.

**L4**: i understand but you can't deny the movie allowed people to find the book, and it also helped get the CGI show going which until that reboot or TV show appears is still the best interpretation of the book.

**BloodRaven**: The Movie was actually a really good subtle parody, and in that job it was good. But after that they should have licensed it as a war movie like Big Red One, since as a parody it did well, but as a series it was a bad idea to do.

erdervv chapter 21

There is more 40K than starship troopers here, one moment you are reading the fanfic and the next the Q&amp;A starts and you find yourself in a /tg/ thread with Fabius Bile and Boreale dropping STEEL RHEN everywhere: now I know you guys are trustworthy people.

**L4**: haha I have no idea if that good but it sounds good

**Blood Raven:** Thank you, as Starship Troopers being the progenitor for 40k, we felt that a good fanfiction of this story will suit the world well.

The Darkness Writhes chapter 21

The planet they fought over was Dis I need to pay attention better that's gonna play a role later on unless I'm mistaken can't wait for more warhammer references and for the council to get a bug asteroid... that would be terrifying for them they have absolutely no defence for that. Dawn of war soulstorm was a good game (RANDOM). But back to starship troopers will the human controlled bugs make an appearance. Another thing will the warrior bug on earth make an appearance, because at the end of starship troopers invasion a warrior bug apparently escaped the explosion and started to lay eggs? I read that on the wiki when I started browsing bug types.

**L4**: Everyone assumes it's Dis frankly I don't know I just wrote a story about a planet with two colonising power nearly coming to blows, never gave it a name, so it may be Dis it may not, depends how I feel. Your refering to the fourth movie, well I do say those event happen it in the same way I say the event of the homefront campaign from the CGI happen it happen just not earth. At this point in Starship troopers history, earth has never been invaded.  
**Blood Raven:** Its not Dis. Dis was an airless rock, they fought over a garden world.

Wanderer101 chapter 21

Janane doesn't get out much does she? That kind of attitude will get her killed…  
**L4**: *nods*

**Blood Raven:** She's an Asari with krogan muscle, that opens up a lot of doors in Citadel space, unfortunately she didn't realize that the Humans were paranoid bastards to put Batarians to shame, who would laugh at the power a Krogan can put out compared to one of their power suits, and have seen more war than the Turians.

**Guest** chapter 21

do you plan to add codex parts to this story almost all the mass effect crossovers have codex's

in them also very good story

**L4**: it an ongoing discussion, I used to put codex in my Starship troopers X stargate story, but I feel they made the chapter to long and people would not leave reviews and started to drop out of reading, this why that story currently dead in the water, so I now go by the school of thought that if you have something you want to reader to know make it a story that why the short story fleet numbers exist. (by the way if anyone want to request a short story on a subject, go right ahead, no guarantee I will do it but it does tell me what people want to know)

**Blood Raven**: Well this chapter had a codex entry, a very short one since we'll never be able to fit in what MilInt stands for otherwise.

Poliamida chapter 21

Very fun chapter, the scene with the Asari made me laugh, but damn that felt short.

Keep it up!

**L4:** sometimes it's better to be too short and read, than to long and not, though if you're putting 200 word chapters out you're doing writing wrong.

**Blob** chapter 20

40k reference Blood Ravens Librarian Isador Akios to Alpha Legion sorcerer SSSSSIIIINNNDDRRRIIIII Myr

**Blood Raven**: FINALLY! Yes, you get a whole tray of cookies!

**L4**:... warhammer 40k fans *sigh*... at least they're not telling my to genocide the turians and harem the asari anymore.


	23. Chapter 17 Book one (9-30-16)

Chapter 17

Edited by a person of many names Blood Raven AKA TimedRaven117. Go check out his story Mass Effect: X-Com Theory! (Blood and his self promotion :P)

**Northern petolemaic Hegemony, Lockhet**_**, **_**2658 GS/ March/10/2330 AD **

General Septimus Oraka held onto the railing as his main battery decimated the Skinnie ships that were still in the space dock above the planet. What ships that had managed to get out of port were being smashed up by his supporting frigates and cruisers with the support of the Terran ships. It had not been hard to convince the Petolemaic leadership on the other worlds they had taken to give them a map of the Hegemony.

Though the maps were relatively crude, each one not having all the data points needed or marking places that just didn't exist anymore and one or two space monsters such as giant Cephalopods thrown in, they had collected enough to find the home world of the enemy commander who had struck both Terran and Turian lives down at Shanxi.

Having informed Terran high command they had dedicated more forces to support his fleet, to ensure the battle went in their favor with a minimum of losses. More than likely they just wanted a piece of Grand Admiral Tel'Rock, but he didn't mind. The Skinnies were not the great foe he had expected them to be. They were much too divided and disorganized to be a true strategic threat in open battle and it almost made him think this war was unfair, but they had struck first, and the reprisal must be swift, vicious, and one never to be forgotten. They must, forever, fear another attack by the Turians and Terrans.

The most unfortunate fact was that they had yet failed to find any of the people's taken from Tesla'Vir. Some Skinnies said they were scattered, others said they were on the other side of the Hegemony, and another said they been left on some rock when they caused too much trouble. The Terran liaison had simply shook his head sadly and muttered under his breath. He had claimed that they had already been processed and broken.

Perhaps they would find some trace of the prisoners here. He hoped, as he watched his fleet begin the bombardment of military installations from orbit. "Sir the Terrans are asking if they can help in the bombardment." One of his staff reported.

"Tell them, 'Thank you, but no we can handle this, prepare for ground assault.' Besides we don't need them nuking the planet. Every time they do something against the citadel conventions and we witness it, it makes integrating them that much harder." He said looking down at the brown planet. "Of course, nuking this shit hole may actually improve it. Wouldn't want that now eh Commander?"

His XO chuckled, "Of course sir."

~[==|==]~

Grand Admiral Tel'Rock looked out from his palace as the great city burned. He didn't know if the aliens or Terrans in orbit had done it on purpose or if it had been some fool knocking a candle over. But now the great city that had stood in this spot for two hundred and fifty years burned. He would have been sad if he was not so full of rage.

He was going to make the invaders pay for every inch of the city when they came. He mobilized everything from soldiers and Venerables to his raiders and milita. He knew it was a fruitless gesture, he had no reserves, no reinforcements, and no allies to come save him, and so he was left with only a honorable last stand.

"Father, the last of the fleet has been defeated." Rel'Rock said as he came out onto the balcony. He was already wearing his vulnerable power suit, no doubt planning to lead the defence of the palace.

"Thank you, Rel'Rock, I have a mission for you," Tel'Rock paused, to look upon his son, he swelled with pride, his boy resplendent in golden armor, much like the great heroes of old, "I need you to take your men and secure the palace airfield, we cannot let these alien establish a beachhead there." What he said was the truth, if the airfield was lost the Terrans would have an open landing field to deploy tens of thousands of soldiers and tens of marauders behind his defensive perimeter. But the airfield was also the most secure part of the palace, if….. When the Turians and Terrans pierced his line and reached the palace, and killed or captured himself, at least his son would be able to escape.

His son nodded and did not complain, he knew what a precarious situation they were in, hell Tel'Rock doubted there was a person on the planet who believed final victory would be with them. But yet they stood, as the Prince of the land, Rel'Rock could never feel more proud than he was currently.

As his son saluted and left, Tel'Rock looked to the sky as the first of the tens of thousands of Terran drop capsules began to be discernable alongside hundreds of Skyhook drop ships and alien unfamiliar Turian drop corvettes. He yelled defiantly into the air, and as if it was a signal the whole city needed, dozens of anti air batteries fired straight into the air, stitching across the burning night sky.

~[==|==]~

El'Dey held on to his constrictor rifle with fear, he stayed low as another wave of gun fire raked his position. They had come from their ships by the hundreds, lightly armored soldiers charged forward by the platoon, laying down continuous waves of gunfire as they came forward.

The humans called them light infantry. But he didn't understand why they called them light. He and the other Militia were doing there best at a holding action, but the there was not much they could do against the numberless hordes of humans. It reminded him of the many stories his father told him of fighting the ancient bug foe. But if the rumors were true, the Terrans had been fighting the bugs for nearly twenty years now.

The Terrans had landed forces just inside the city, they had flattened the weapons factory where he used to work and where he got his rifle from. Quite literally it had been blown flat by a powerful weapon before the first of the Terran ships landed. From there they had been pushing out in waves like an ocean, attacking any resistance they found and butchering the militiamen that didn't surrender.

And that wasn't the worst enemy even, Terrans in power suits and armor wearing jet packs were freely falling from the skies like daemonic rain, landing and flitting around the battlefield like monstrous dancers, turning any militiamen they found into chopped meat with their weapons. Even the Venerables, great as they were, were having trouble, as they were ambushed at every corner and point. Even now El'Dey just knew that the Powersuits were waiting behind the junction in the street to their rear.

"Here they come!" The officer, really their work foreman, in charge of his unit yelled drawing a ceremonial blade, preparing for hand to hand combat within the building they were cowering in. A rocket propelled grenade flew in the building hitting him square in the chest sending parts of his body all over the room.

At the moment that he could hear again he saw outside the Terrans in their light armor form two firing lines, a grey clad human to the right had an upraised hand, and then cut it down. Immediately the platoon strong firing line opened fire with their morita rifles. He ducked his head just in time, but most of his co workers weren't so lucky as even through the thick concrete walls, hundreds of small projectiles pierced the barrier and exited with more than deadly force. Many of the rounds were explosive in nature and either exploded right after breaking through the walls or within them sending a shower of millimeter to centimeter long shrapnel into their bodies.

El'Dey was on his belly his hands covering his auditory receptors, he wanted to scream for it to stop. He clamped his eyes shut as he felt rock dust, blood, unmentionables, and rubble fall upon him. In seconds the combined firepower had quite literally nearly collapsed the wall he took cover behind.

Deafened, covered in his co workers, crying for his mother that had passed decades ago, and scared beyond all consolation, El'Dey locked up with terror as he heard a resounding deep gutteral warcry, "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" That horrid cry was emitted from the Terran throats as they charged over into the building, their rifles sporting wicked bayonets or sometime axes as large as the user's head.

Two Terrans tripped over his body, both falling to the ground they looked back upon the object responsible and saw the cowering El'Dey. Pulling out long grey rods they flicked them, sparking. The last thing El'Dey remembered before unconsciousness overtook him was the green warpaint upon their faces.

~[==|==]~

Sergeant Tereus Ursition, of the 43rd Turian Army Division held on to the side of his squads M-080 APC, his platoon's mechanized column pushed into the city, the Terran attack was coming from the south while he was coming from north. And it was proving to be an interesting experience, from what he had heard the Skinnies were fighting with everything they had in the south trying to stop the Terrans, fat chance of that since he had seen them in action before and he pitied the fools who fought the Terrans. But here in the north side of the city they seemed confused, yes there were some groups fighting them, but there were other groups surrendering the moment they came in range of their guns. He doubted it was just the fear of the unknown or just the fear of their armor, really it seemed they would rather surrender to them over the Terrans. The bad blood between the Hegemony and the Federation was working in their favor even as they stalled the Terrans. Then again the Terrans were much more aggressive in their doctrine. He had seen them unload dozens of heavy artillery canons, which had made him double take since the last cannon of that caliber he had seen was in a museum. He also knew they were in the process of deploying nearly an entire overstrength division right into the city compared to his own divisional force, most of which was securing the outlying suburbs and towns.

So really it was more like the Skinnies were focusing on the much more pressing threat now that he analyzed it.

Looking ahead past the smoke, he saw they were nearing the palace. The building was a massive spire that seemed to have been carved from a mountain, he wondered how they could construct a building made of stone that high. "Holy shit! So that's Petolemaic steel!" The driver of his APC shouted out. Tereus nearly jumped as he started to fish around for that info book he was given by the Terrans. From what he knew, the Skinnies had come up with an alloy of steel colloquially known by the Terrans as Skinnie Steel, that could be made to look like stone from a distance, most of their weapons were made of it to. He didn't know more than that but it would explain the buildings. Some were made of plain concrete but others were beautifully decorated with the steel, giving an ancient feel to them.

"Alright platoon dismount, we're going into enemy territory now! We've been fighting militia and armed citizenry! We'll face the real soldiers soon." The platoon leader announced and all the Turians immediately dismounted and began to spread out into the surrounding buildings and the streets. Their tanks, while immune to small arms, were not immune to AT weapons, and the only way for the Turians to detect an ambush before it occurred was by screening forward.

Everyone's senses were on high alert as they crept forward, as soon as the first vehicle had turned a corner it was immediately hit by a rocket propelled weapon, the shields deflected the round, but not before it exploded and a jet stream of plasma struck the vehicle and caused a gouge in the thin armor the size of his fist. This was most certainly not going to be an easy fight like this.

~[==|==]~

Major Ivan Ivanovic watched the simulated holographic table from the planet below, a group of Turians were pinned down just before the palace by Skinnie Venerables and light infantry with AT weapons. He didn't know much about the alien unit, but he guessed they were some kind of special forces or a vanguard company by the fact they had been deployed much closer than any other Turian unit. "Have they requested help?" He asked looking over to his old friend General Shiroyama.

"The skirmish has barely lasted 30 seconds." Shiroyama said with snark, then smiled, "Not yet but they don't know what they're dealing with yet, they probably think them meer soldiers, from what I can see they're about to be encircled by professional light infantry laying low in the surrounding homes, and then the Venerables will advance on them once their armored vehicles have been eliminated. The Skinnie commander is good I'll give him that." Shiroyama explained as he highlighted the buildings the infantry were hiding in and pointed out how the Turians had fell into a trap despite their carefulness.

"And do they have any support on the way?" Ivan asked as he looked at the Turian's line.

"None from us, but a bit from their own forces. Most of our troopers are bogged down in the fighting at the landing zones and on the approach to the city, if the Sky Marshal had given us another division or a few more brigades for this attack I would have a more appropriate reserve to send in, but as it is I have only one asset left. The Turian's have more reserves in orbit, and have penetrated deeper into the city, but the Skinnies are about to blunt their forward thrust. If this column is destroyed like we predict it could extend the fighting for days, possibly allow our quarry to escape, and substantially increase casualties."

"So you want to send me in I assume?" Ivan asked, sighing as he looked at the map.

"I know this is your last tour of duty before retirement, and it was not supposed to be anything more than a moral booster, but you're the only man I can send in there who has a chance of saving their asses."

Ivan nodded, "You really don't have to ask, they are fellow soldiers trapped under fire down there, that is all the reason I need to drop." He got up from his seat and sighed heavily, "I'll kill some Skinnies for you General."

He walked quickly from the command center to the forward section of the ship contacting his support staff as he made sure everything would be ready. Stepping into the armor he saw his chief engineer Jensen Boroyevich attaching something to his power armor. "What are you doing?"

"Oh hey boss!" He said, finishing his work, "Funny story, you're going to laugh, but you know those card games I've been holding? Well a Turian showed up to one of our meets, let's just say you're now the proud owner of a military grade kinetic barrier made for an infantryman!"

"Nice? How does it work?"

"Hell if I know, but I figure if you're going to take the old girl for one last drop I thought you would like something more than armor on your back!" Whooping in russian to the team, Ivanovych did the same.  
**  
**"Yes, it will be good to do one final run with the old girl." He replied demurely, picking up the old Marauder 10 power armor helmet from the table. It was scarred from years of use, but still functional. Turning over he saw his call sign emblazoned, _Spooky, _"One last test run they say…."

~[==|==]~

[Sound track: Gods of War, by Manowar]

Lieutenant Augusna Regiril dodged another rocket going over his head, "SPIRITS DAMN IT!" He yelled, the Skinnie weren't exposed to be a problem, in fact they hadn't been until they red fuckers showed up, they had almost reached the star port, pushing through the heavy incoming fire with their armored vehicles taking hit after hit, but then these monster had rushed their position from the flanks.

He didn't know what the hell they were but they seemed to have hyper awareness of the battlefield, and every single bastard had an assault rifle that fired rockets, a pistol that seemed to just render the impactee into unrecognizable meat with a shot, and the fucking gloves they had would literally disintegrate a person alive with the barest touch. He knew all this because there had been 30 men in his squad, and now there was only 10.

So much for being a member of Blackwatch. They had joined the forward thrust quietly, but being the best of the best in the Turian military doesn't mean anything when the other guy has tech that can rip you apart at every level. "Sir I'm receiving a message from a Terran ship in orbit, 'the cavalry is on the way'."

"Well that's grand, but unless they have something that can get here in a minute, that's not going do us any good!"

At that moment a streak like a falling star appeared above them. Augusna recognized it as a "Cap", a capsule used by the Terrans for orbital insertion, crazy bastards. However it dropped far lower than usual, and it only detonated a few meter above the rooftops behind the anti tank cannons. Suddenly the sound of war cries and screaming started, and the guns stopped firing, culminating in a huge blast as the anti tank shells were detonated.

Regiril kept his head down, the sound of combat continued but now that the main obstacle to their vehicles was destroyed, they may have a chance. Looking to the wrecked facade of the building, he saw swirling smoke then something dark moving toward his position. He was about to pull the trigger when the smoked cleared and showed what he hoped to the spirits was a Terran.

The head was the right shape but it's face was covered up behind a bronze vizor. The rest of the armor was thick, and he had two ammo bandoliers with a selection of guns hanging from them, it looked like a man sized tank. It would have been completely terrifying except for the codpiece, the Federation eagle emblazoned there was so ridiculous it put him at some ease.

The Terran was quietly walking up, in the sound of battle he didn't make a sound, looking closely, Augusna could see that his entire body was repelling the smoke around him. Dropping the clip in his carbine, he slapped another one in, pulling the action back. The fighting in his area stopped, as everyone looked at the new comer.

"Down from the sky… into the fight… Like the Vikings of old, a Marauder is here." He announced. "Now, who's first?" A Skinnie rushed him thoughtlessly, with it's atomising glove outstretched, the Terran moved with incredible speed, getting around the outstretched arm, grabbing it twisting it to an unnatural angle, crying out in equal measures surprise and pain, the Terran ripped off the arm like it was leg on a poultry dish. Looking at the glove still sparking, the Terran proceeded to stab the hand into the Skinnie's back, killing it.

Turning, the Terran surveyed the battlefield, "Well now… I thought the pride of the Petolemaic Honor Guard would be tougher. I've fought tougher warrior bugs." Drawing the attention of all the nearby Skinnies as they redirected their fire at the Terran.

Augusna took the chance, "Counter attack!" Rising from his cover, Augusna drew in his biotic power, and pulled a Skinnie sniper from its perch, exposed for his team's marksmen. As soon as the call went out, the remaining biotics and soldiers in his squad proceeded to push out, the Skinnies had been incensed towards the Terran and did not realize their mistake and the lack of dueling honor the Turians had until it was too late. Quickly the numbers lost rivaled that of the Blackwatch.

However the majority of the kills came from the lone Terran, pulling off his carbine the rippling waves of devastating fire went out, as he proceed to scale a wall and into a building, losing sight of the Blackwatch members.

The building the Terran disappeared into soon had flashes of gunfire erupting from it, explosions rocked the structure and flames licked at the windows. Augusna couldn't focus on that however, as he and his men fought with all they were worth, as they even went so far as to engage in melee with the Skinnies, pulling out their talon knives and pistols in some cases as rifles overheated.

The Terran emerged having not even suffered a scratch as he tossed away the spent carbine and pulled up his Tactical Shotgun. Another Honor Guard tried to charge him, before being blown in half by the powerful weapon.

And just as soon as the ambush began, they were gone, at some unknown signal they retreated reluctantly. Leaving the few remaining blackwatch and Turian platoons behind them at a loss for targets and words. Immediately calls for medics and wounded reports were coming in.

Augusna looked to the Terran, who stood upright and proud, looking to the building he had just essentially destroyed. As if deep in contemplation.

Regiril looked at the figure for a few moments before looking to his most senior survivor as he gave a casualty report. When Augusna turned back the Terran was gone without a trace

"_Down from the Sky, into the fight, hearts full of rage, full of thunder and glory, swords in the wind, crossing the sky, lords of doom, bring an end to their story upon winged chariots."_ Whispered in the dark, as if a final parting gift.

~[==|==]~

That was not the last fight of the Honor Guard Augusna realized, his armored column finally made its way to the palace gates, using their own tanks as battering rams, his forces had been picked at by Skinnie snipers and ambushes of small teams. But he also saw more than a fair few red armored corpses. That Terran soldier was clearing the way he realized.

Only a true veteran could see the majesty of how that Terran soldier had fought, how each shot was calculated to cause the least amount of suffering but maximum carnage, as if he was a spirit of war, a Terran Ghost. '_Ghost? Ha!'_ He thought, no he was very much real, the Terrans had even sent him down to them. But every soldier was superstitious, and in a way, it made him comfortable to know that, spirit or flesh, he was on their side. But as they fought, he could tell the Honor Guard were nothing if not good themselves, if not at least on par with his own men, they had full control of the terrain, every meter forward had been a bloody one.

It was as if the Honor Guard would just literally appeared out of nowhere behind their lines or in the middle of them. He would have sent scouts to find their hiding holes, but he knew they would be slaughtered without numbers and power on their side, so he kept his flanks tight, just as if he were fighting asari.

Finally as the tank let loose a final hyper velocity projectile the golden gates crashwed to the ground with an almighty clang. "You hear that Tel'Rock?! WE'RE COMING FOR YOU!" Augusna screamed with the rest of his men and women as they charged forward behind their tanks as machine gun fire came from the fortified bunkers in the palace grounds. "Secure the Docks! Don't let him escape! For Palavan! For the Hierarchy! For the Citadel Council! For Tes'la Vir!" Augusna roared one final inspiration to the surrounding soldiers who repeated the last call.

"FOR TES'LA VIR!"

Those words from before came to mind again, actually, it, that was his radio. Someone was singing in another language…

~[==|==]~

Grand Admiral Tel'Rock spat on the ground, clearing the black tar that had been smoke from his mouth, the planet, the palace itself was burning, all his forces were dying or surrendering. His son… was lost to him, he hoped he would be brave and leave him to embark and escape.

He would never see his son again. Perhaps that thought was what struck his heart the most.

He had decided it would be HIS dynasty that would be the one to end the time of the headless tribe… and now perhaps that chance was lost forever. So fuck it, sitting upon his favorite sun chair, a bottle of the finest brandy he had saved for such a victory in his hand, he drank, he drank and watched his city burned, by the time the Turians had pierced the few lines of defense that remained he was so drunk he didn't even notice the fighting outside his study door.

The door didn't blast open or break, or look even damaged in the slightest, as a single figure walked into the room, dressed in grey, his visor bronze as if the most glorious sun, reflecting the flickering burning lights outside. He stepped to the left of Tel'Rock, looking out over the burning city.

The Terran spoke, "Your son is a great tactician. He used the sewers and secret tunnels that run through this area like ratways. He ambushed me and the Turians at every turn, every step was a fight for your life. I've not experienced such a fight for years."

Tel'Rock was so drunk, he could barely move, but he was cognizant, and aware of how important this moment was, "Did he escape?"

"... Yes. I almost caught him when the last of his guard pulled him into one of the blockade runners. The fleet won't be able to stop it. I had an open shot. One squeeze of the trigger. But I couldn't, not to such a worthy opponent." The Terran Marauder explained.

Tel'Rock visibly relaxed at that information, falling right into the comfortable straps of his chair, "Please, Terran, take a seat, and drink with me, for my final moments. Humor an old Tawn with your most honorable presence. Tales of your kind's exploits are famous, even out here." Tel'Rock said, motioning clumsily to a nearby chair.

"If but I could, I have many questions MilInt would love answered. But that will have to wait for later. But one, tell me of General Projak."

Tel'Rock, his tongue loosed by drink and and the knowledge that soon he was to die anyways, spoke at length of the man, how he found him, his payment, his fiefs, and preferred tactics.

He was just going into how much of a dark mood he had wherever he went. Nothing seemed wrong until a Turian gun was next to his head. Looking up at the Turian he saw the aliens that had ruined him. He just looked at them, took a swig straight from his third bottle and said, "What happened to the nice Terran Ghost? Please relax yourselves friends, have a drink while I tell the tale of meeting a Marauder… Oh what was that poem he just said a moment ago..."

"_Down from the Sky, into the fight, hearts full of rage, full of thunder and glory, swords in the wind, crossing the sky, lords of doom, bring an end to their story upon winged chariots."_ One of them said, and Tel'Rock sighed.

"Yeeeeessssss… That one." Tel'Rock had the happiest smile in the world, "That one…"

~[==|==]~

**Northern Petolemaic Hegemony, Lockhet, 2658 GS March/13/2330 AD **

Vice Admiral Kalio Gainus looked down at the planet displeased, his ships had just recently arrived in system to deliver troops to help with the clean up operation. He had expected this operation to be hard when he gave General Septimus Oraka the green light, but this was almost disappointing, for three days the battle had raged on the planet, three days of hard combat all because Tel'Rock to fight to the end.

He didn't know what had broken the man, he really didn't care. Even when they captured the Petolemaic, drunk, his forces wouldn't just surrender. Nothing worked, the Terrans were grinding through defense line after defense line, stronghold after stronghold. The Skinnie military forces just would not surrender, and a lot civilians hadn't the first few days either.

But that was changing, the Terran's had exhausted their operational resources and their men and woman were in dire need of refit and reorganization. When they stopped fighting the Skinnies also stopped fighting. After a bit of talking on all three sides the Terrans had realized their presence on the planet was causing the Skinnies to be unreasonable so they were pulling out of the city and established the rear echelon in the outer suburbs, and now the population was starting surrender formally and willingly move to the safe camps. Hopefully the military follow suit once the rest of the Terrans were off and replaced by Turians. _  
_  
Sighing, Kalio considered heading back to his quarters to work on the stack of paperwork that never seemed to shrink no matter how much work he put into it, when sirens started going off, "Report!" He ordered, turning to his staff.

"Three ships of Petolemaic make have jumped into the system." His sensors officer called.

"Three?" Kalio asked, it wasn't exactly what he would expect as a counter attack.

"Yes sir, wait… I'm receiving a message from the unknown ships. Translating now… strange." His communications officer mumbled. "It says they would like to discuss peace terms."

"Another small planet wanting to spare itself the ravages of war?" Gainus asked.

"No sir the messages says they represent the entire Petolemaic Hegemonic Council._"_

"Well now… today just got interesting."

~[==|==]~

Kalio Gainus sat at a table as the Skinnie representative took the seat across from him. "I am Vice Admiral Kalio Gainus, I will represent the allied forces during this talk but I can only hear what you have to say, I'm not invested with any definitive political power right now."

The Skinnie nodded, "I understand, I am Lew'Gen'Tak representative of the Gen'Tak tribe to the Hegemony council and elected speaker for them during these peace talks."

Kalio assumed a tough stance, he was no barefaced Citadel Politician, but he was a senior flag officer, and that didn't come with just brutish seabirdship alone, "So you wish to discuss terms? I hope you they're some damn good terms. From what your forces have put the Citadel people and our Terran allies through."

"You doubt the Hegemony's political power?" The gray skinned alien retorted, looking regal in the green and red roman style tunic he wore.

"Well you could say that everything I've heard about your people since we've met has most certainly not been positive, there is no centralized government, and what governments that we have encountered have not exactly been paragons of economic or military strength. So forgive me if I assume that you don't exactly have a lot to offer me or my allies." Kalio explained, watching the Skinnie closely

The Skinnie nodded, "You are right and wrong at the same time, on the outskirts of our territory we have no control, but toward the core planets, a place you now border, we can affect some things, and at least end open military conflict. And delay a fleet of thousands from testing their strength against your own fleet." A not so subtle threat, Gainus liked that.

"So what terms are you prepared to give me to take to the Terrans and the Council?" Kalio decided to cut the shit.

"The terms are simple, we will give you all the planets you have taken and any planets that you missed on the way to the current border, you can do whatever you please with them. We will also forbid any military buildup on the border in this region for the next twenty years. We will also declare any ships currently in your space who don't retreat or surrender as pirates, In exchange we want promises of a mutually shared DMZ between our peoples to keep the Terrans from causing trouble. You're a calm and collected third party, a buffer between us two will allow us to make proper diplomatic overtures to one another."

Kalio sat there in thought for a moment, hiding his emotions as best he could, his stoic Turian steel, "I was expecting a lot more political side stepping, dancing, and evasion. This is a huge amount of territory you're just giving up." Kalio couldn't help but know that was also a ton of territory to police and garrison, a huge drain on the treasury on the already strained finances of the Hierarchy, the Volus were going to have a fit.

The Skinnie seemed to smile, "Within the Hegemony Council there are many factions, until this war the most powerful was a pro Petolemaic-Terran War group, their power base was centered along the border with the Terrans, they wanted this war thinking it could make themselves even more powerful than they were as war heroes. Instead you alongside the Terrans have destroyed them almost in totality, creating a power vacuum, a vacuum my party has filled. We do not war with the Terrans and your people, we have more lofty and peaceful goals in mind, so giving you the land of the troubles makers seems a fair way to keep ourselves in power in the short term. In the long term, I'll be honest, neither you nor the Terrans will be able to actually control the planets with any degree of success. One day, maybe tomorrow, maybe in a thousand years, they will find there way back to the hegemony peacefully. Or violently if you prefer."

What the Skinie said confirmed some fears and relieved others, but also brought something else up, "Alright, but what is your parties goal?"

The Skinnie continued to smile, "Well to restore the Hegemony to the time before the Headless Tribes. It is the goal of all survivors of the Gen'Tak, the emperor's tribe, and the true rulers of the Hegemony, and to do that we must fight the bugs, retake our home world of Gehenna, something we could not do with the arachnids as strong as they were, but even the fools in the Councils can see that in order for the Terran to bring their armies here, they must have struck a grievous blow to the Arachnid half of the Empire. Which is a golden opportunity to take back lands from them while they're still reeling. What is their saying? An enemy of my enemy is my friend?"

He would definitely send this up the chain of command to let them deal with it, but Gainus still had one problem, "Alright but what about the soldiers of Lockhet?"

"What about them? From what I understand Tel'Rock is your prisoner so he should tell them to surrender." Lew'Gen'Tak explained patiently.

"They're refusing to listen to him, they seem to believe the Terrans are mind controlling him or some superstitious nonsense like that." Gainus returned.

"Oh… well I guess you just have to kill them all then. It's not our problem now."

"We'd rather not mark our first days as governors of the planet by bombarding half of it to dust. You have some sway I imagine, the news of this will most certainly at least bring them to the table." Kalio asked politely.

The Skinnie considered it, "I will send someone, but I make no guarantees of them yielding while in the throes of battle."

"Anything is better than more bodies, than another battle. We Turians fight for honor and peace, not for the sake of fighting." Then something the Skinnie said before struck him odd, "Why did you say the Arachnid HALF of the Empire? I thought the Terrans called it the Arachnid Empire."

The Skinnie looked considerate, then said to himself, "I should have guessed the Terran hadn't found the truth yet, still a golden opportunity for my people though." Then turning his back to Kalio, "When my people fought the bug, as the Terran call them, the bug went by another name. The Pseudo-Arachnid Empire, that is all I shall reveal on that matter."

To Be Continued

~[==|==]~

Terran Gunsmith's Extraordinaire Codex edition, Volume 1:

The TW-105E Tactical Shotgun: The weapon was a move from the Morita weapons available to the mobile infantry; it contains a large and powerful explosive shell which would almost wipe out an Arachnid warrior bug in one shot. Dubbed the Puncher for its ability to literally punch holes in test subjects, the TW-105E is a powerful weapon indeed.

Units produced: ~10,000,000,000 (10 Billion)

Warning Accessing Classified materials… Identity confirmed

M10 Marauder Power Armor: The most experimental of all Pathfinder armors, even in its prototype phase it increased the combat capabilities of soldiers by 200%. What would take a squad of Grunts hours to clear, a Marauder can do in minutes by himself. With regenerative armor, and an overlaid and highly experimental Harmonic Shield unit, Marauder troops have been known to come out of engagements essentially missing all their limbs and with half their armor reduced to metal and still survive. They're so skilled that a single one is a strategic resource on par with entire regiments of Marauder Walkers. When more than one is sent to a war zone it's the mark of an escalation in war for the entire sector. The deployment of one is so serious that entire strategic campaigns have been rewritten to include the sheer power of one.

The induction of new recruits per year is in the single digits, and so far only a handful have been lost to direct combat. The pilots of these power armors are interplanetary celebrities, used as icons of power in even alien and rebel circles, with respect reserved only for true foes worthy to admire.

wiki/File:Marauder_ 

Units produced: 117 (One hundred and Seventeen)

_**Author note: so thought everyone would like to know i have now beaten ME2+DLC and started ME3+DLC woo… i also watched the paragon lost movie...Wooohatever so i am no longer ill informed about mass effect.**_


End file.
